Orleans Weekly Journal
Published: Friday, April 25, 2008 Time to clean up Millennium Park Three weeks ago I wrote about the vandalism – through a scourge of paintball splatters –that occurred at the Kiwanis Adventure Playground at Millennium Park. At the time, I noted that the Orléans Kiwanis Club would plan a cleanup day in the near future and invite the community to participate. Well the near future arrives this Sunday, April 27 at 10 a.m. and you are invited to help. To start, Orléans Coun. Bob Monette has already pitched in. Readers may recall that Monette used $500 of his office budget to purchase a pressure washer to help local businesses clean up graffiti on their property. Monette donated this machinery to the Heart of Orléans Business Improvement Area (BIA) who in turn donated use of the pressure washer to our local Kiwanis Club for their cleanup effort. Kudos to both Bob and the BIA for their quick action and leadership. Also pitching in is Yves Paris, local owner of several Tim Horton’s stores with his newest operation recently opened beside Sobey’s at the intersection of Trim and Watters … just down the street from Millennium Park, which buttresses the land around Gisèle Lalonde Secondary School. I asked him for his help and an hour later, his affirmative response chimed on my blackberry. So hot coffee and timbits (it’s a Sunday so the diet can take a day off) will be ready for volunteers who want to assist in the cleanup effort with yours truly serving up double-doubles to boot. Folks are encouraged to bring extension ladders, buckets, scrub brushes, rakes and garbage bags to get the work done. And given the large number of volunteers who may show up, local Kiwanians ask that prospective volunteers surf by their website at www.Orleanskiwanis.com and follow the links to sign up. Please, if you want to help, let them know you are coming. This effort is also a great way to spend a Sunday morning in the springtime su and you could make it a wonderful family experience and impart a fun lesson of true citizenship to your kids at the same time. And once you are done helping Kiwanis, may I not so humbly suggest a little cleanup of your own street given all the winter litter that has accumulated, and a quick stop around a local bus shelter or superbox mail stand as well. Every little bit will help restore our community and neighbourhoods to a more clean and picturesque state. Think of it as a belated Earth Day exercise, a gift to your neighbourhood or at its base level, simply the right thing to do. I hope to see many Weekly Journal readers on Sunday morning out at the park. = = = = = Comments can be sent to Walter Robinson at orleansouttakes@transcontinental.ca. |