Groups of Girl Guides picked up several bags of litter on 5th Avenue Sunday. Photos 250News

Prince George, B.C. – You could not have asked for a better day for the annual spring request of residents to grab a garbage bag and head outdoors to pick up littler left in their neighbourhood.  All part of a city-wide, do-it-yourself beautification project, and highly successful.

REAPS issues the call and it was met enthusiastically from College Heights to the Hart, Paddlewheel Park to Cranbrook Hill and points in between.  Collection bins are strategically placed throughout the city and people are encouraged to pick up the litter negligently discarded in parks and playgrounds and along streets.

From all indications there is plenty of community pride in Prince George, with people young and old taking advantage of the sunny weather to get out and chip in.  Along 5^th Avenue a little west of Ospika we ran into a group of Girl Guides.  They had filled several bags with garbage picked up in the green spaces in that area.  Were they from the neighbourhood, we asked?  No was the response, they had simply selected that part of town to clean up, one group on one side of 5^th, a second group on the other.

Teens from the Muslim Centre did their part to clean up the city

Spotted four teenaged-looking people picking up litter a little further up the road.  Do you guys live in the neighbourhood, I asked?  No we don’t, they replied.  One of the fellas said “we’re from the Prince George Islamic Centre mosque (at 5^th and Foothills) and we’re putting in a couple of hours picking up the litter.”

Volunteers collected litter at Hudson’s Bay Slough on both sides of Queensway

Over at the Hudson’s Bay Slough Park, members of the PG Naturalists Club were joined by local residents who felt like turning out, walking the trails through the wetlands while picking up litter left behind in the bush.  One lady we spoke with said “Since I moved back to Prince George I love coming here.  I bring my grandson and he enjoys seeing the birds and the other animals.  He spotted a muskrat one day and thought that was great.”