Photo submitted by Ashley Walter
Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Two local Osoyoos residents took to social media to organize a community clean up of the Osoyoos Canal on Monday.
Catherine “Kitty” Greve is a local dog walker who often walks her four-legged clients along the canal. She noticed the site on her daily walks and decided to do something about it.
“I was out walking my client’s dogs on a regular walk, and I was walking in the north canal walkway area and I came across this squatter’s site which was full of garbage. You could tell people had been living there temporarily over the years,” said Greve. “As soon as I saw this garbage I thought I’ve got to get Ash on this.”
Ash, or Ashley Walter, is a friend of Greve who shares a passion for the environment. The two have been working on creative projects around the environmental and social impact of trash, so, naturally, Greve got her involved. They brought garbage bags to the site to clean it up themselves, but quickly realized it was too big a job for just them.
“We realized for the two of us it would probably take us two or three days to do it,” said Greve. “There was just so much trash, we hadn’t come adequately prepared because under the first layer of trash was another year’s layer of trash and so on and so forth.”
So Walter and Greve decided to organize a community clean up, posting to Facebook to get as many people to help as they could. About a dozen people showed up to help on the day and get the job done.
“It was kind of spur of the moment, but it was really nice to get people together and meet new people in the community,” said Walter, who added that it was a good way to build community and be productive while outside in the sunshine.
Once complete, the volunteer clean up crew had too much garbage to take to the dump themselves, so got in contact with the town of Osoyoos who came to pick up the garbage and dispose of it, free of charge, said Greve.
“It was great to have the support of the town on this one,” she said. “I wanted to make sure this garbage wasn’t posing a public safety risk, so the public services manager phoned me the next day and very kindly arranged a pick-up.”
The two women plan to keep organizing clean ups in the future, with the help of the town and continued support of the community to clean up areas as they appear. Both Greve and Walter agreed that it was a great way to get people from the community involved in something positive that promoted a healthy and clean environment for all.
“They’ve all expressed interest in doing more of these clean-ups,” said Walter about the volunteers from Monday’s event. “Many more community members who weren’t able to attend this one expressed interest in future clean ups, which I think is a really cool thing to continue doing in town.”
The two plan to continue using Facebook to promote any future clean-ups they organize with help from the town.
Osoyoos residents led a clean up of the canal on Monday, March 16. Photos submitted by Ashley Walter
