Students from Ecole West Park School fanned out across Altona Wednesday afternoon for the 35th annual Clean-A-Thon in support of Blue Sky Opportunities. It is win-win-win partnership, because students raise pledges ahead of time for the organization which supports adults with intellectual disability, then go out and clean up the town picking up trash and debris, plus they have a chance to win prizes.
The event was supposed to happen last Friday, but was postponed due to the rainy, windy and wet weather.
"It's a great partnership between ourselves as the school, and with Blue Sky Opportunities as well," said Principal Derek Sawatzky in a previous interview with PembinaValleyOnline. "It's pretty great to just have an opportunity for our students to reach outside themselves, to have the opportunity to see how an organization in our community supports adults with intellectual disabilities and means a lot to this community."
Three of those students who spent yesterday afternoon picking up litter and garbage were Grade 4s Gleason, Kolton and Aubree.
"We are cleaning the town to help our community," said Gleason.
"We're cleaning the town, so it will (help) nature and be pretty," added Aubree.
Teams of students and teacher/staff chaperones spread out across four quadrants in town filling garbage bags along the way.
"it's really critical for us, as we see these kids in our school, be able to just see the important work that's done outside the walls of the school, and connect to the broader community," offered Sawatzky who was the chaperone with the group PembinaValleyOnline caught up with.
When asked when people should keep Altona clean, both Gleason and Kolton said, "All the time."
Aubree had the final word, "Tell them not to throw (out) trash and keep it clean."
This year's fundraising total for Blue Sky Opportunities is still being finalized.
- With files from Zack Driedger -
