The activities that bring people together and better their lives are not always glamorous. For example, it was a garbage collection event that improved life for the Ogden East End Community in Thunder Bay. Altogether, 20 tons of garbage was collected -- enough to fill a used car lot with everything from discarded mattresses and couches to smashed doors and twisted bicycle frames. The city provided regular garbage collection in the area, but not for large items and the low income community had been plagued by a series of small but alarming fires in back lanes, alleys and yards. Residents were frightened. The two-year old Ogden-East End Community Health Centre played a key role organizing the garbage drive and was rewarded with a higher profile and more citizen participation at the centre. Catching the youngsters who set the fires was a priority, but so was cleaning up the area. "The back lanes were unkempt and there were kids who would run down them like deer, setting small fires," said Brian Berringer, now captain of fire prevention for the City of Thunder Bay Fire Department. "One night, we had seven pumpers involved in the neighbourhood. It was a real concern because the houses are close together so fire can spread easily." Catching the youngsters who set the fires was a priority, but so was cleaning up the area. A Fire Information Night at the Community Health Centre in May, 1994, led to the plan for a community clean up day. "A lot of people here don't have cars, so they couldn't get bigger items to the dump and the city had stopped it's annual clean up for big pieces," said Alison McMullen, executive director of the Ogden East-End Community Health Centre (CHC). The community is comprised of retired seniors and young families, mostly renters, with the population of about 10,000 living in about 3,600 homes, she said. "The event helped our visibility, and also demonstrated that our role was broader than providing primary care, and that health is a broader issue." "The
city was dumbfounded by The event, said Berringer, "was a real shot in the arm for the CHC. Alison really has her finger on the pulse and she saw a real opportunity for action." The CHC was command central on the clean up day. Volunteers, many of whom used their own trucks for picking up garbage, went to the CHC for coffee, juice and donuts and route maps. (Residents had been canvassed to find out if they had large items for the dump.) Ralph Sandford, a member of the local Business Improvement Association who owned a restaurant on the area's main street (Simpson St.) volunteered his truck, himself and other family members. Successful
as the event was, "The city was dumbfounded by how much garbage we collected." Sandford noted. "They had allotted only one garbage truck to pick it up. In the end, they had a security guard watching the pile of garbage all weekend, until Monday when they had more staff and could bring in crews and front end loaders." In all, the city hauled 82 garbage truck loads from the neighbourhood. Successful as the event was, nobody wanted it to become an annual event. Instead, made aware of the need, the city resumed its once-a-year spring clean up of large items. Related Web Links:
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