Local employees of Coca Cola Canada and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent put on their work gloves and grabbed garbage bags early Thursday morning to clean up the banks of the Thames River in Chatham. The clean-up in Thames Grove Conservation area was part of The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
Employee volunteers from Coca Cola Canada included (front row kneeling) Paul Sloan, Jim McNeil, Mike Christensen and (back row from the left) Justin Douma, Mike Merritt, Brad Bushey, Mark Hamilton, Matt Boroski, Don Morrow, Eric Clark, Jacob Patterson, and Jeff Eaton.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a grassroots conservation program that aims to promote understanding and education about shoreline conservation issues by engaging Canadians to rehabilitate shoreline areas through cleanups. Nationally, this is a conservation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium and WWF with Loblaw as a presenting sponsor. Last year, over 56,000 people registered to participate in the event across the country.
Coca-Cola Canada has been organizing clean-ups in many communities and, in Chatham-Kent, local Coca Cola and municipal volunteers were glad to pitch in.
“Water is not only an essential ingredient in all of Coca-Cola’s beverages, but central to many of the agricultural ingredients that make up its products,” said Coca Cola warehouse supervisor Tom Whalen. “We recognize our responsibility to protect this resource. We’re engaged in initiatives like the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup to encourage employees and other community members to get involved. We can all do more working with others than we can on our own.”
Employee volunteers from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and associated agencies included Jim Hogan (Entegrus Inc.), Tom Kelly, Gerry Wolting, Tom Kissner (Public Utilities ), Lucy Brown and Cathy Hoffman.
“Chatham-Kent municipal employees are also citizens of the community,” added municipal human resources director Cathy Hoffman. “We want to work for the good of the community, both in our professional lives and our private lives. Cleaning up the riverbank is a great opportunity to take care of our natural environment, get to know other community volunteers, and invite everyone to join in any projects that build a better Chatham-Kent. It all adds up!”
Individuals and community groups can get more information and get involved in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup by visiting http://shorelinecleanup.ca.
