The Rotary Club of Port Alberni wants to start an annual community clean-up.
Rotary president Crystal Knudsen attended a virtual meeting of Port Alberni city council on Monday, March 8 and received support from the city to host the event this year.
The cleanup is planned for Saturday, April 17, to coincide with Earth Day (which falls on April 22), and will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“This is brand new for our club,” said Knudsen. “We have just been talking about doing more service to the community. We thought we could get some other community groups to join us to cover more territory. If we have a good start this year, we could look at doing it on an annual basis.”
Knudsen used to live in Prince George and said she was inspired by Prince George’s annual City Wide clean-up, which takes place every spring.
The group will be following all provincial health orders when it comes to COVID-19, including social distancing and the wearing of masks. Knudsen said she is hoping to start with parks and main roads in order to maintain distance while cleaning.
“We are very excited to see a local group hoping to spearhead this initiative,” said Mayor Sharie Minions during the March 8 council meeting. “There have been some community clean-ups organized by different groups, but something with continuity would be fantastic.”
Knudsen says the club will be reaching out to the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and asking them to accept the garbage and recyclables collected during the event free of charge. She will also be connecting with the city to obtain donations of materials such as gloves and trash bags.
If anyone is interested in volunteering in the clean-up, they can contact Knudsen at crysknu@telus.net, contact Dewayne Parfitt at 250-731-6555 or reach out to the Rotary Club of Port Alberni Facebook page.