The City of Steinbach has a lot less garbage lying around as a result of over 1600 volunteers cleaning up our community this past weekend.
The 12th annual Pick up and Walk event was held this past Saturday, May 6 in Steinbach, with a record 1614 people participating. Volunteers cleaned up the main Steinbach streets, parks, side roads, open areas, ditches, boulevards and culverts throughout the city picking up 9.49 tons of garbage.
“We had a record number of people from 21 different churches involved this year and it is incredible to see this many people join together to clean up a small city of only 15,000,” said event organizer Grace Hiebert. “Children who have volunteered through the years are taught, in a very practical way, to value their community. Another bonus is that this event saves the city over $45,000 – the wages that they would need to pay to do what was accomplished by the volunteers for free in under 3 hours.”
Eldon Wallman, City of Steibach Solid Waste Dept Head expressed his gratitude to all involved, noting that the city looks fantastic.
Specific routes were organized in advance and the volunteers included those picking up garbage, truck drivers who picked up filled bags along specific routes, and those who prepared and served the free barbecue lunch for all participants. Volunteers started on their routes at 9 am and were done by noon. Many businesses sponsored the event by their donations which covered the expenses of the event.
Steinbach Mayor, Chris Goertzen welcomed everyone and thanked the volunteers from the churches for their support. MLA, Kelvin Goertzen thanked everyone for showing their commitment to their community and led in a prayer before everyone headed out on their routes.
The event is held annually on the 1st Saturday in May with next years’ event taking place on Saturday, May 5th, 2018.
