Lethbridge teens awarded grant funding for cigarette butt litter initiative

The Heart of Our City Committee (HOCC) is helping money a task dreamt up by 2 15-year-old Lethbridge residents successful an effort to trim litter successful the downtown core.

Steven Yang and Morteza Faraji said they are elated to find retired their exertion was successful.

The thought for the task was calved retired of concern.

Yang said they learned from the Helen Schuler Nature Centre that cigaret butt litter is simply a large occupation successful Lethbridge.

“We’ve ever cared astir the environment, and to perceive that the metropolis wasn’t truly doing thing to assistance it, we decided to bash it ourselves,” helium explained.

The brace began moving connected the thought successful February, and were capable to manufacture 7 smoker poles and cigaret drums for the waste.

“Our inaugural consists of ample smoker barrels, (smoker) receptacles that you conscionable spot your cigaret butts successful and they’ll beryllium placed astir ample nationalist areas astir the city,” Faraji explained.

Cigarettes collected from these bins volition beryllium sent to TerraCycle, a backstage recycling business, wherever 1 dollar for each lb volition beryllium donated to the Interfaith Food Bank.

“Our semipermanent extremity is to get much retired there,” Yang continued, adding they program to instal the devices successful the adjacent month.

Yang and Faraji’s inaugural is 1 of 11 chosen to person fiscal enactment from the caller Re-Imagine Downtown Activation Grant. They are being awarded $3,000 retired of a full $99,225.

“Despite the abbreviated turn-around for applications, we saw a large woody of involvement successful Intake 1,” says Andrew Malcom, Urban Revitalization Manager for the City of Lethbridge.

“We received 19 applications, with backing requests totaling successful excess of $300,000 – frankincense determination were not capable funds to conscionable the demand.

“This is simply a large motion of things to travel for downtown Lethbridge.”

Out of the 11 approvals, 9 are returning initiatives that person been antecedently funded. Those see Shakespeare successful the Park, Downtown Lethbridge Farmers’ Market, Lethbridge Electronic Music Fest, and Theatre Outré. A afloat database of initiatives tin beryllium recovered here.

Lorien Johansen, chairperson for the HOCC,  said it was large to spot immoderate caller ideas travel to the table.

“The things that we cognize and emotion and privation to spell to each twelvemonth — euphony connected the square, physics euphony fest — we emotion to spot those travel back,” said Johansen.

Along with the cigaret butt initiative, the different caller task is simply a panel-style contention called Building Business Downtown, which is simply a recruitment task to capable bare storefronts.

Entrepreneurs looking to determination into a downtown abstraction volition transportation their concern plans to judges, who volition take a victor to person lease enactment and different guidance.

“We conscionable thought it would beryllium a ace amusive mode to capable vacant abstraction and marque downtown vibrant again,” said Emily Chong with the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone.

“We anticipation that this volition promote entrepreneurs who are acceptable to determination into a abstraction to benignant of instrumentality that leap.”