They clean up because they care
New volunteer-driven effort to keep the city’s waterfront clean
The movement called Because I Care kicked off its first event at Millennium Park Monday with the help of many locals from the community.
Because I Care, is a campaign started by Jimmy “Lightshow” Reedyk, a well-known downtowner who cannot be missed with his multicoloured beard.
Reedyk’s goal with the campaign, he said, is to help promote garbage cleanup around the city's lakes, rivers and streams.
“A lot of people have asked ‘Why does it bother you?’ and I simply reply, ‘Why doesn’t it bother you?’” Reedyk said.
The movement started to get traction when he and his good friend Sherine Cisco starting posting photos and videos a few months back on social media of Reedyk going out everyday and picking up trash around the water.
“One video had almost 11,000 views,” said Cisco.
One of the volunteers, Matt Stewart, said he has known Jimmy for almost 20 years and has known him to always be passionate about the environment.
“When I heard about his campaign I wanted to make sure I was free,” said Stewart.
The campaign name, said Reedyk, came to mind when he was down by the water picking up trash one day and a little boy looked at him and asked, “What are you doing?”
“The little boy's mom was confused that I was picking up other people's trash on my own time. She asked me why I bothered and her little boy piped up and said, ‘Because he cares.’
“That broke my heart and so that’s when I decided the slogan,” Reedyk explained.
Last fall was when he started to go out everyday for one hour to clean up the trash around the shores and parks.
“I would see people come down for weddings and they would look over into the water and just see trash,” he said. “It drove me crazy.”
One day, said Reedyk, he and Sherine were walking and saw a couple throw their trash onto the ground.
They asked the couple why they would do that and they replied that there were no garbage cans around.
“I was gobsmacked by their comment.” Reedyk said.
Eventually, he would like to get his message across Ontario and just in the next few weeks Reedyk has offered to pay for bus transportation down to Beavermead Park to help clean up around the area.
All it costs out of a person is a few hours each day or even a week to help out with the environment, said Stewart.