Operation Street Clean picks up litter and lifts community spirit
It was as much about picking up a community’s spirits as it was lifting the litter off downtown streets for the 60-plus volunteers participating in Operation Street Clean Saturday.
Spearheading the cleanup day was downtown resident Carolyn Dawson, who moved to the city’s core to be closer to work (Ouellette campus of Windsor Regional Hospital) in the summer.
“I have been a business owner (Daily Grind) downtown before, and I see the challenges now are greater compared to then,” Dawson said.
“I reached out to the DWCC (Downtown Windsor Community Collaboration) and on social media. It’s a small thing to pick up waste off the city streets in the grand scheme of things, but it brings a spotlight on downtown,” she continued.
“There’s an energy in starting with these group efforts.
“You participate in one and you’re wanting to continue to grow the numbers.”
For four hours, beginning at 10 a.m., the group scoured the streets for rubbish.
The volunteers patrolled streets and alleys bounded by Caron Avenue on the west and Goyeau Avenue to the east, and from Park Street south to Erie Street.
The bags of garbage were piled up in a municipal parking lot near Wyandotte Street West and Pelissier Street and collected by the city in the afternoon.
Dawson said she was encouraged by the diversity of the group. There were downtown residents, people from the city’s suburbs of Tecumseh and LaSalle, downtown business owners and representatives from a variety of social agencies.
Frank Richards, a volunteer with the Windsor Aids Committee, came with a will to make an impact, along with instructions on how to safely dispose of any found needles.
“These things absolutely make a difference,” Richards said.
“It gets people involved in their community.
“It’s also a safety issue we’re addressing. We don’t want children coming across needles and seeing things they shouldn’t.”
SnackBar-B-Q and The Downtown Pizza Co. provided support and lunch for the volunteers.
A couple of local businesses (Dinunzio Protection Services and A+ Plus Contracting Ltd.) had their employees participate in the cleanup.
“We do regular cleanups, but this just happens to be a large one,” said Sarah Cipkar, the Downtown Windsor Community Collaboration’s community development coordinator.
“The participants want to see something clean. It empowers the neighbourhood by showing more pride and care in neighbourhood,” she said. “It’s a way for people to lift their spirits and the neighbourhood itself.”
Tasha Mosey has seen first-hand what downtown’s streets look like having lived on them at one point.
“I still hang out downtown a lot and it’s getting way worse with the needles on the street,” said Mosey, who’s no longer homeless.
“You wander around and you see the garbage where the homeless have been going through bags looking for something. It makes the city look nasty.
“Little things like this are huge because they help build a snowball effect. I wanted to help because it’s nice to give back after I’ve taken so much.”
Longtime downtown resident Cheryl Laporte is encouraged to see more people caring about the core streets of the city.
She counts herself a regular volunteer in anything that makes the downtown more livable.
“I came because I like seeing the community clean,” Laporte said.
“It’s really a disgrace when I see a lot of garbage lying around.
“I do feel it’s getting better than it used to be,” she added. “I feel progress is being made. “Events like these also help me get to know people in our community better.”
There’s an energy in starting with these group efforts. You participate in one and you’re wanting to continue to grow the numbers.