Kids cleaning-up their community

Some community kids were doing what they could to clean up Portage la Prairie last week.

David Wiebe was minding his own business, picking up trash near a yard in the north-western corner of the city. He wasn't expecting to be out for too long, but before he knew it, he was joined by nearly a dozen children.

"I started picking up garbage, and all of a sudden, there's a bunch of kids that came over, and they're handing me garbage, too. I was like, 'Oh, OK, well thanks a lot guys, that's very nice,'" says Wiebe. "The group of us just walked along the ditch there and (we were) climbing in-between the bushes to get all the garbage that was blown into there or was thrown into there, who knows what."

Wiebe admits he had plans that day, but the enthusiasm the kids showed to improve the area, was infectious. He decided to cancel his plans and continue helping the kids clean for a couple of hours.

"We had such a good time that once we finished that whole ditch, then the kids were saying, 'there's more garbage over here'. So, they're talking about the other side of the road towards their place," says Wiebe. "The reason that I decided to keep helping them out? Kids are always looking for positive role models and it's not about just going and quickly getting your own stuff done. Sometimes you just take that time and invest it into other people. At that moment, that just seemed like the right thing to do."

When this story was first shared online, more than one thousand people liked or loved the post. Lyn replied on the post, "We live there, and saw you. Those are a great bunch of kids and are good neighbours." Holly was out and about, saying, "I was outside and saw and heard these kids, they were having so much fun and you could tell they were so proud of the difference they were making. Thank you for being a positive role model!" 

Wiebe hopes other people will hear this story and they'll be inspired to help clean up their own community, safely.

"I've gotta give these kids credit. They were so excited to see their neighbourhood cleaned up."