The commitment of École St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School staff, students and parents to keep their community clean didn’t go unnoticed this year.
The school was awarded the 2011 Envision Innisfail Green and Clean Champion award by the Town of Innisfail during a ceremony at its Oct. 26 assembly. Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane and Shelley Gagnon, director of community services, were on hand for the presentation.
During the inaugural Envision Innisfail Green and Clean campaign, which ran from May 14 until June 30, residents and businesses were encouraged to do their part to clean up their community.
The school was recognized for collecting 150 bags of garbage during the campaign.
“It is a great honour to bring this to you and recognize all the kids that took part in the Envision Green and Clean event,” Romane said as he presented the award to Grade 5 student Rylan Barclay. “The town is very proud of you guys, (and) the community is so thankful for what you’ve done.”
St. Marguerite principal Rose McQuay said staff and students were taking part in a community cleanup as part of an annual school social justice project and were initially unaware of the campaign when they were approached by an Envision Innisfail member.
“It’s something we normally just do,” she explained, saying she was proud of the recognition. “We were recognized for it and then became part of this contest.”
Gagnon said the impetus behind the Green and Clean campaign came from Envision Innisfail’s desire to create an environmentally responsible and welcoming community.
“We want to be a place where people want to be, gather and feel welcome,” she said, adding local schools took pride in being part of the campaign.
