02 Jul MLA Challenge, Let’s Stop Littering!
Dear Community Members,
Our vibrant community of Clayton Park West is one of the most densely populated in the region, due to it being one of the most desired areas to live in, in Nova Scotia. It offers gorgeous landscapes and the outdoor lifestyle with trails and lakes, as well as amazing facilities (i.e.: the Canada Games Centre, Keshen Goodman Library, wonderful shopping in Bayers Lake, and indoor and outdoor fields at Soccer Nova Scotia). It is also the home of various schools, which attract many families to the area, and it is close to the downtown core.
More people can often equate to more garbage, but this does not have to be the case in our community. I was approached last January by a constituent who had recently moved to the area, and he had done extensive research about how other countries had cleaned their communities and educated citizens about litter prevention.
This meeting sparked my desire to do something to combat the littering issue in our beautiful riding. I decided the best way was a grassroots community initiative.
From April 26 to June 1st, my office participated in five cleanups, including: Park West School, École Rockingham and Halifax West High School, as well as two other cleanups with community groups. Each cleanup collected on average 25 bags of garbage in an approximate one hour period. Check out the photos on my Facebook to see the wonderful initiative of the members in our community!
I Need Your Help!
My goal is to make Clayton Park West the cleanest community in Nova Scotia!
Here are some of the ways you can help:
1. Lawn signs – Do you live near a park or a busy path in our community? Please call our office or email us and we can provide you with a sign. The sign will help spread the word about my MLA cleanup challenge.
2. Notify us – If you see litter in an area, email us a picture of the area so we can arrange a group to tackle that location. If it is private property, we can notify the owner.
3. Supplies – Our office can provide groups or individuals with: Garbage bags, gloves and our handy trash-pickers! If you can organize a group, then we will join you and bring the above supplies. If individuals would like to join the challenge, please drop by my office and pick up the above supplies.
4. Join the challenge by tagging us in your posts on social media, and make sure to use our hashtag:#MLACleanupChallenge. Please let us know of other members who are helping to keep our community clean.
5. Last, but not least, let’s spread the word to other members of our community to join this challenge.
Thank you…
A special thank you goes out to two young passionate members of our community, who have inspired me to create this challenge. Riley & Sarah are two grade five students at Park West School, and are members of the ‘Green Team.’ They are helping our initiative by spreading the word to their classmates about the importance of litter prevention.
Also, thank you to Kimberley Wotherspoon, one of our outstanding community members who has exceeded our expectations by joining both our community cleanups, as well as collecting several bags of garbage on her own time and sending us a photo.
Our cleanup challenge is off to a great start. Our goal is to teach our children, and the adults, preventative measures to reduce or stop littering.
Annual Community BBQ
In addition, please join us at the Clayton Park West Community BBQ on Sunday, July 28th, from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at Veteran’s Corner (corner of Langbrae and Parkland). There will be hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and face-painting. There will also be an opportunity to share stories of our cleanup challenge, with special recognition to some of our helpers.
Let’s work together to reach our challenge: To have half the amount of garbage by next summer and even less the following year!
Thank you for taking pride in our community!
Sign/ Banner Credit: InTouch Communications