By Stephen Vance, Editor
Five years ago the first Earth Day clean-up at Meaford’s Memorial Park attracted a small handful of volunteers who tromped through the park on a chilly Sunday in April gathering up every piece of trash and dog droppings they could find.
For the most part, the volunteers who participated in the first two years are the same folks you are likely to see at any similar event in Meaford. Those residents who are active with community gardens, the farmers’ market, and other environmental initiatives naturally gravitated to the annual Earth Day clean-up, but in each of the last three years, new faces have been appearing at the clean-up.
Last weekend the fifth annual Memorial Park clean-up was held – a couple of weeks late due to Mother Nature’s insistence this year that several inches of snow must continue to carpet the floor of the park until the end of April – and though it was one of the few truly beautiful sunny days we’ve had this spring, nearly 40 residents turned out for the event.
Throughout the afternoon volunteers young and old arrived at the park entrance ready to roam the park with gloved hands and a black trash bag at the ready to collect whatever was left behind by those less considerate of the health and well-being of the park.
At times I have been amazed at what the volunteers have lugged out of the wooded areas in the park. One would expect to find plastic bottles, food wrappers, perhaps the odd shoe or tire, however some of what the volunteers find during the clean-up can cause a bout of head-scratching.
In previous years volunteers have found air conditioners, de-humidifiers, rolls of carpet, tools, toys, seats and seat cushions, miscellaneous construction materials, condoms, sunglasses, and more.
While it might amaze many that people would toss small appliances into wooded areas of the beautiful waterfront park, the good news is that there is much less to be found each year. The largest objects found in this year’s clean-up were a pair of 1970’s vintage camper bench cushions, and with nearly 40 helpers, the clean-up was completed in well under the planned two hours for the event.
I suspect that, in part, there is less trash each year simply because people are less likely to litter in areas that are obviously clean and well-maintained, but there is more to it than that.
There’s a reason that Friends of Memorial Park member and park clean-up organizer Lindy Iversen was the recipient of this year’s Peter Francis Memorial Award – she never seems to stop doing good things for the community.
The award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exemplary volunteer leadership over many years and who has made a significant contribution to community development in the Municipality of Meaford, and Lindy Iversen is certainly all of that.
The care of Memorial Park doesn’t happen just one day each year. Iversen and her collection of enthusiastic volunteers are in the park throughout the year digging up Garlic Mustard to help preserve the park’s abundance of trilliums, planting trees, and new projects are constantly in the works.
When they aren’t helping out with park clean-up events, many of those who participated last weekend are also involved in many other community initiatives, ranging from community gardens, to the farmers’ market, to organizing the Films For Thought documentary series that has been informing Meaford residents of important issues by showing dozens of environment and community-oriented documentary films.
The dedication shown by so many in this community is a constant source of hope and inspiration. Meaford is well known outside its borders as a town seemingly in a constant state of controversy, but inside its borders, community-oriented volunteers are dedicating hours upon hours of their own time to make Meaford a better place to live, a better place to visit, and a community we can all be proud of in spite of our well-publicized problems.
For that, I and the entire Meaford Independent team would like to thank Meaford’s volunteers, and not just those who have been participating in our annual clean-up of Memorial Park. Thank you to all of our volunteers. Meaford is a healthier, safer, and more interesting community due in large part to the dedication and effort of our large number of community volunteers.
