Beach Pick Me Up event at Woodbine Beach brings out a crowd of enthusiastic community members

Erin Horrocks-Pope Sunday, September 20, 2020

The Beach Pick Me Up brought families, friends, and neighbours down to Woodbine Beach this morning to take part in a beach clean-up.

The event was organized and co-hosted by resident Tiffany Pratt and city councillor Brad Bradford.

Pratt has lived in right across from the beach for 13 years and has been observing an increase in litter.

Tiffany Pratt and her dog, Poppy, at the Beach Pick Me Up event on Woodbine Beach in Toronto. September 20, 2020.

“If you don’t clean up after yourself it can quickly turn into a wasteland of garbage,” Pratt said. “Just walking along and seeing piles of things left behind is really disheartening so I started taking it on to bring bags and clean it up.”

Pratt eventually reached out to councillor Bradford to see if they could join forces and host an event to get more people engaged in keeping the community clean.

Two volunteers work together to haul a discarded BBQ they found on Woodbine Beach back to the Beach Pick Me Up event base. September 20, 2020.

The idea behind the event name and logo, Beach Pick Me Up, was to really remind people what it means to go above and beyond for your community and environment.

“When you’re doing something good for your environment, for your community, and for yourself, it picks you up,” Pratt said. “It makes you feel happy. It’s a pick-me-up in your spirit to be outside with nature doing something good.”

City councillor for Beaches-East York, Brad Bradford, addresses the attendees of this morning's Beach Pick Me Up event. September 20, 2020.

An ongoing theme in co-host, councillor Bradford’s social media presence when addressing litter concerns is that if you can pack it in you can pack it out.

Bradford described that a large quantity of what he observed being collected from the beach was empty cans and cigarette butts and hopes that folks will lead by example not to leave these things behind.

“Woodbine Beach got a deep clean today,” Bradford said in an Instagram post from the event. “We’re super grateful for the community. Thanks to everyone that came out, and let’s make it a habit.”