It was a sunny and successful Saturday in Steinbach as hundreds of volunteers came out for the annual “Pick Up and Walk” event, held this year on May 3. With perfect weather and strong community spirit, residents helped clear trash from the city’s streets in just a few hours.
Martin Gunter, one of the organizers, shared that this year’s turnout was impressive. “We had 19 churches send people out, and with a bunch of walk-ups on the day of, we had about 860 volunteers,” he said. “It was just a great show of support for the community.”
The event has been held annually in Steinbach for years, but this time the weather cooperated for a change.
“Well for one, the event was held on the day it was scheduled,” said Eldon Wallman, Solid Waste Manager for the City of Steinbach. “Not like in previous years, when it was rescheduled many times, because of rain.”
Wallman said city staff always look forward to this day.
“We're always excited for that day because it's such a great help when they clean up the city. The way all those volunteers do it in about 3 or 4 hours is absolutely incredible,” he said. “Something we can't do as staff. That's an amazing thing. It's really great.”
While volunteers walked the streets in bright yellow shirts picking up garbage, city staff stayed busy handing out supplies and setting up safety pylons on major roads.
“We kept handing out garbage bags and water and gloves and stuff like that, so we were kept busy for those few hours,” said Wallman.
Large metal containers were placed around the city filled up throughout the morning.
“I think we had about 11 of those all over the city at various locations,” Wallman explained. “Everyone knew it. They had it on a map. It was extremely well organized. Mallory and the crew there at Parks and Rec, they do a great job with that.”
Even though the bins weren’t overflowing this year, there was still a good amount of trash collected.
“The city looked pretty clean to start with,” Wallman noted, “but we still picked up over about 5.74 metric tons of garbage. Not a record year, but that’s actually a good sign.”
He added that cleaner streets mean people are taking more pride in their city.
“I think there's a different mindset. I know Mayor Earl and I were talking about it, and people are starting to really catch on. If you see someone throw something out of a window, grab it. The mindset is a lot cleaner than it used to be. So it’s awesome. It’s great to see.”
Wallman ended with a heartfelt thanks to everyone who took part.
“On behalf of the city, we thank all those volunteers and the church groups that got together. That’s a fabulous day. Something we can't duplicate with our staff. Absolutely fabulous day for us. Big kudos to them. Thank you very much.”
Corny Rempel from Mix 96.7FM asked volunteers on Saturday what they'd found. Here are their responses:
"Tooty-Fruity Fireworks – I think they were already lit off, but yeah, fireworks.
“We found several vapes, a bottle of pills and a hubcap, which is pretty normal, I guess. It came off a GMC half-ton truck, so we left it at the stop sign at the corner of Herschfeld and Loewen. So, people can go and see if it’s still there.”
“We found lots of rusted chunks of a car. Brake parts, too."
“I found a fire extinguisher.”
“I found like a gas bucket. Yeah, a jerry can.”
“I found a deer head.”
“I've got a screw driver and I’m keeping it.”
“I found a $50 Gift Card from the Apple Store. I’m going to check to see if it still has money on it.”
“I found a Tim Horton's gift card.”
“I found a stuffy, like an owl-cat stuffy. It was like, messed up.”
“I found $500. In Monopoly money.”
“I found a racecar shirt.”
“I found $30 cash. A 20-dollar bill and $10.”
“I found a new license plate.”
“I found AirPods and a charging case.”
“I found a unicorn Christmas ornament.”
“I found an oil measuring thing. Yeah, a dipstick.”
“I was playing Twister, trying to crawl through a culvert. Picking up garbage is actually much harder than it looks. Like, I ended up like in 80 different positions, and when I came out, I was smelling like absolute garbage. So I had to go home and take a shower.”