2009 Earth Day 20-Minute Makeover Round-Up
Earth Day – April 22nd, 2009 – is behind us now, and another couple hundred bio-degradable bags of garbage have been captured and corralled thanks to the efforts of many individuals and groups throughout Ward 9, and the city generally. I would like to extend a big thank you to all the people who got behind the 20-Minute Makeover in its second year, and came out in force to rid our streets of grime.
The weather was on our side more this year than last, fortunately, and the snow didn’t start falling until the afternoon. I was out with a few members of Joe’s Clean Team on International Avenue in Forest Lawn at 9:00 am where teams from Scotiabank, the Calgary Co-op and TD Bank joined us. The Earth Day mascot Eartha was with me again this year, doing her part to keep morale up. From there we moved on to Ground Effects Café in Milligan/Ogden, which served as a depot again this year, and then to the home of a nearby resident who wanted to organize some neighbours to clean up her street. The Colonel Walker School in Inglewood was our next stop, where we participated in an impromptu break-dancing class and Wrapper Jane got to show her stuff to some bonafide rappers. The kids out in the schoolyard were doing a bang-up job of cleaning up too.
Our next stop was the Arusha Centre, where Arusha staff along with staff of Cohos-Evamy Integrated Design also came out in force along 12th Ave. S.W. From there we headed east and met up with staff from the Nature Conservancy before hitting the Eco
Fair in the City Hall Atrium, where all kinds of innovative green ideas were on display. Ramsay School was next, where the kids had done the 20-minute makeover on April 21st in anticipation of worsening weather, and no sooner had we visited all the classrooms there, than the white stuff did start to fly. Our final stop was at the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association,
by which time the snow was coming down in huge, wet flakes. Undeterred by the weather, valiant volunteers from the CCCSA took us through the streets and alleyways of Chinatown to pick up garbage. It was a tremendous day of stamping out litter.
Last year we had a lot of fun and spent time with many groups on April 22nd, and distributed a lot of bags and gloves at various depots around Ward 9. This year it was so rewarding to see how many people had embraced the Earth Day 20-Minute Makeover and were making it their own, and really taking the initiative in their communities to spruce up their streets.
Reports are still rolling in, but here are some of the reports we have received:
A badge of honour goes to the City of Calgary’s own Parks and Recreation Department, along with Community and Neighbourhood Services who put together (count ‘em…) NINE teams involving 126 people to clean up at locations around the city during their morning break.
The good people from Momentum went out as a team of 11 and travelled from Max Bell to downtown, picking up 10 full bags of garbage in the course of their 20-Minute Makeover. They’ve even decided to go well beyond the call of duty and do a 20-minute makeover ONCE A MONTH!
Erin Woods School also had the foresight to move their efforts to April 21st, and so the student body there went out together to pick up around their school a day before Earth Day.
Judy Yip and her family heard about the Earth Day 20-Minute Makeover and decided to do their part by picking up two full bags of garbage along Country Hills Boulevard, and they plan to make it a regular family outing.
Foothills Mustard Seed residents along with staff and community volunteers numbering 45 set out together to collect FORTY BAGS OF GARBAGE on Earth Day. This is an unbelievable contribution… way to go team!
I’m also grateful to QR77, X92.9 FM, the CBC, Omni News, and S.E. Calgary News for publicizing the 20-Minute Makeover.
I couldn’t be more delighted with the way people mobilized and took Earth Day and the 20-Minute Makeover to heart and made it their own. My sincere thanks to all of you. Spring is going to look a lot better in Calgary thanks to your tremendous efforts.
