On a windy and cloudy Saturday morning (April 27th), around 50 Tirgan volunteers assembled in Willowdale Park, wearing their toques, gloves, and multiple layers of clothing. As more  and more volunteers joined the group we greeted each other with warm handshakes and hugs, a nod for having braved it on a chilly Toronto spring morning.  As the group assembled, we warmed up with Timmy’s coffee brought in by one of the volunteers, and non-wrapped sweets provided by Bibi Cafe, as our Director of Operations read out a list of do’s and don’ts. “Safety first,” he emphasized.

Equipped with gloves, bags, and garbage-picker-uppers (not a real term), we set out on a walking path to Glendora park, and cleaned the trail and the park of any man-made garbage that we came across.

Two hours later we had collected 7 garbage bags full of plastic wrappers, cups, loose paper, and a surprising amount of cigarette butts!  All said and done, we left the park and trail cleaner and greener than we found them.  A big thank you to everyone who came out!

On this day, Tirgan volunteers had joined over 200,000 other residents, students, and businesses across Toronto in an effort to give back to their community, as part of the annual “Clean Toronto Together” initiative put forth by the City of Toronto.

Tirgan CEO, Mehrdad Ariannejad, who joined us in this effort, said “Toronto has been a gracious host to our many festivals, and it is time we give back to this great city.”

This will be start of many ways that Tirgan volunteers will help the community, so stay tuned, and don’t forget to check out our website for updates on our huge Tirgan Festival coming up July 25th – 28th!