The Blue Mantle Girls’ Club doing Earth Day right with a garbage cleanup! (Photo submitted)
Pine River Recreational Trail in Angus is cleaner thanks to the efforts of a group of local girls.
On Earth Day, nine members of the Blue Mantle Girls’ Club combined an after-school hike with a garbage clean-up of the area. The members, between the ages of eight and 12, collected a full garbage bag of waste. The activity was an opportunity for them to learn about nature, and an eye-opener for how much fast food and household waste end up in our green spaces.
It’s far from their first good deed for the community.
Before the pandemic, a small group of Grade 3 girls met at lunch time and discovered a shared interest in fundraising for charities, so the informal group began to meet for faith-sharing and planning fundraisers. They have since grown to include 13 girls, operating out of both Our Lady of Grace Church in Angus and St. Joseph Chapel on Base Borden.
In the past year with the help of their families, they have raised $400 selling birdhouses for SickKids, and an additional $400 through a Jack-o-lantern display and bake sale for the Neonatal Critical Care Unit at RVH. They are now working on planning the next fundraiser, which will highlight their artistic abilities.
By: Emily Nakeff, Editor
