Time to take out the trash!

From left to right: Ben Dingle, Andrew Archibald, Jesse Henwood, Melissa Berger, and Yurri Panin.

Groups of residence students recently got "down and dirty" - literally - as they took part in the Litter Challenge - a Saturday morning event to clean up streets near Dalhousie.

The students, armed with garbage bags, blue bags and latex gloves hit the streets on Saturday, Oct. 1 - a beautiful fall morning. One group did streets near Studley Campus such as Coburg, while another group helped clean up Spring Garden Road and the area around the Sexton Campus.

The Spring Garden Road group was accompanied by Bernard Smith, manager of the Spring Garden Area Business Association, and a student dressed as the Dalhousie Tiger. They spent a busy morning collecting coffee cups, paper and other litter from the busy downtown business district.

Another group, composed of students from Howe, Risley and Shirreff Halls, did the streets around Studley, including Coburg and Oxford. Two trucks from Dalhousie's Facilities Management Department circled both areas, picking up the full bags and depositing them at the Dalhousie warehouse off Castine Way.

"The response from the neighbours we met was so positive," says Marc Douglas, senior residence assistant at Howe Hall and chief organizers for the Studley Campus student contingent. "It was great to get students out and to contribute to keeping the neighbourhood more tidy."

The Litter Challenge is an initiative of the Dalhousie University Community Committee (DUCC). The objective, says organizer Mary Somers of Dalhousie's Communications and Marketing Department, is to get the residence students into the neighbourhoods and begin educating them about the importance of being a good neighbour and their responsibilities to the community.

"This year's residence student is sometimes next year's off campus student, so it is important to get them thinking about living in the community."

The Challenge was followed by two neighbourhood barbecues at Shirreff Hall and on the Soccer Field at Sexton Campus. Gift certificates and prizes from the Spring Garden Area Business Association were raffled off to the students who participated and were a huge hit.

Sponsors for the event included the Spring Garden Association, the United Way of Halifax Region and Clean Nova Scotia. It provided all the garbage bags and sent a truck to haul everything away. Communications and Marketing, in partnership with Aramark, put on the BBQs. Facilities Management at Dalhousie also contributed time and organizational skills to make the event a success.