'Help our earth to be a better place': Community groups clean up Regina's parks

As the snow melts, spring brings a fresh start to every year, best started with a deep clean.

Multiple organizations around the city used Sunday’s warm weather to make the Queen City a little cleaner.

In June of 2020, Sung Park founded the Stargivers Initiative to help the houseless population in Regina. On Sunday, the student-led organization hosted a needle and garbage clean-up at Core Community Park: the site of Camp Hope.

Park said she hopes to be an example to the community and make it a better place.

“We are youth and high school students,” she said. “It’s important that we set an example for future generations and help our earth to be a better place.”

Along with the pitch-in day, Stargivers made it their mission to feed 500 people through a barbecue.

“In the fall, we helped Camp Hope run their community outreach,” said Park. “We saw the outcome back then and we thought it would be a great place and time to do it again.”

The not-for-profit Warriors of Hope partnered with Stargivers. Shylo Stevenson said the city benefits when the youth step up.

“When they said they wanted to partner up with us and feed 500 people,” he said. “We figured this would be a good day to come to the park on beautiful day and clean it up park a little more in depth than we did when we took down the camp.”

Across the city at Douglas Park, Fresh Air Experience hosted a ‘park plog’. Plogging is where you go for a run, usually with a group, and pick up garbage at the same time. Fresh Air has done the park plog for the past several years to give back to the city while making the park a little cleaner.

“We spend so much time in this park,” said store manager Trevor Norgan. “It’s only a little bit of time, but it makes me feel better knowing everyone else can enjoy the park, too.”

Norgan, with his group of volunteers, said cleaning up garbage may not be glamourous but if everyone does a little bit, it goes a long way.

“It doesn’t take much to pick up some garbage. All you need is a small bag and it helps your community,” he said. “You can do this any time of the day, any time of the year.”