Altona gets a summer refresh, thanks to local students

Students from Ecole West Park School were met with warm sunshine as they headed out Thursday afternoon for their 34th annual Clean-a-thon. 

Crews, led by a teacher or volunteer, scattered throughout Altona clearing up debris from boulevards and tree lines that became exposed with the spring thaw, paving the way for tidy summer in the community. 

The Clean-a-thon is also an annual fund raiser operated in partnership with Blue Sky Opportunities, an organization that supports adults with intellectual disabilities in the community. 

"We go around fundraising, canvassing for money for the kids to be sponsored to help out and clean around the town," explained school principal, Derek Sawatzky, in an earlier interview with PembinaValleyOnline. "Students raise ‘X’ number of dollars. Between this bracket they earn Chamber Bucks for spending anywhere here in town that accepts Chamber Bucks. If you earn more, you move up to better rewards, starting at $5. The biggest financial prize is $150."

"Any way that we can help incentivize kids to want to go out and raise money for an important organization," he added. "[Blue Sky] does a lot of important projects. They're renovating some of their facilities this year using proceeds from this fundraiser. There's also a long-standing tradition of having a tablet as the main prize. The student who earns the most or the person who collects the most pledges both receive a tablet as a reward. I think in my day we got a shiny button."

No word yet on how much garbage was collected at the end of the day or who raised the most money. Earlier, students Marley and Namir each predicted they'd collect over 100 and 200 bags of garbage, respectively.

With files from Zack Driedger