Brock University and Niagara College are hosting a Virtual Spring Clean-up — and they want to encourage community members to do the same.
In an effort to help build more sustainable communities, the institutions have come together to launch a toolkit that will make it easier for the public to safely hold clean-up events across Niagara and beyond.
Specific guidelines are provided to help students, community members and organizations take part in clean-up initiatives in a safe manner.
The kit includes information and simple steps on how to host or join a community clean-up anytime, anywhere. Resources also direct participants to their local health guidelines to ensure all COVID-19 restrictions are followed throughout the process.
To kick-start the community involvement as Earth Day approaches on April 22, Brock and Niagara College will host a Virtual Spring Clean-up for students from Saturday, April 17 to Sunday, April 25. This is the second joint Virtual Clean-up the schools have collaborated on, with the first held last fall.
It was after the first event that Brock and Niagara College began receiving inquiries about how to host a clean-up, resulting in the creation of the public toolkit.
Brock University and Niagara College students have the unique opportunity to engage in conservation activities, such as the Virtual Clean-up events, while working towards the Living Planet Leader Certification through a partnership with World Wildlife Fund-Canada (WWF-Canada).
Participating students can become WWF-Canada Living Planet Leaders by completing a self-guided certification throughout their time at Brock and Niagara College, where they will take on sustainability-related actions in the categories of volunteerism, personal application of sustainability, application of sustainability in academics, and leadership and teamwork.
Brock students can sign up for the Virtual Spring Clean-up on ExperienceBU, while students from Niagara College may register on the College’s Sustainability website.
The Virtual Clean-up toolkit is available here.