It's Earth Day and We're Open!

Today's the day! Check out our Planet Earth Party.

Five Bins Were Cleaned Up!

Wow! the Sooke Region Wide Community Clean Up was a great success on April 14. As Jeff Bateman wrote on Zero Waste Sooke's website:

Beecher Bay, East Sooke, District of Sooke, Otter Point, Shirley … and with the promise of more clean-up action to come throughout the Sooke region. The total haul: Five dumpsters packed to the brim (with recycling and metal duly sorted out, of course).  Thank you AGAIN Sooke Region residents!

Clothing Swap at Planet Earth Party!

Announcing the Planet Earth Party Clothing Swap! 

It's true: One person's unwanted threads are another person's favourite new fashion statement.  

Earth Day in Sooke is a perfect opportunity to vanquish unused clothing and accessories from your closet and exchange them for items you find fresh and inspiring. 

 

We're asking people to come down to the Sooke Community Hall on Sunday, April 22 between 8 and 10 am with their unwanted clothes and accessories. Limit 10 items per person. Our focus is on teen and adult clothing only.  

"We are looking for cool, fresh, fun items that still have lots of life left!," says our swap coordinator Lisa Cooper Yakimovich. 

Each item you give us will be tagged and placed in the appropriate category: women's clothing, men's clothing, shoes, hats, jewellery, belts, etc. 

In return, you'll receive a ticket you can trade in for another item from the same category.

Once Lisa and the volunteer team have things organized, the doors will open officially for shopping between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 pm. 

Once the swap is complete at 1:30 pm, you're free over the next half hour to take back any of your items that other people haven't claimed.

Or you can leave them for us to donate to Sooke's local thrift emporiums and charity drop boxes.

One way or another, it’ll be a fun and creative way to freshen up your own wardrobe while ensuring that perfectly functional clothes are going to homes (and onto backs, legs, wrists and feet) where they'll be appreciated.

Sign up your Clean Up team for April 14 :)

Our Sooke Region Wide Community Clean Up is set to go on Saturday, April 14!

Click here on this link to sign up your team for cleaning in an area you choose.

Local teams are forming in communities across the Sooke region as residents enter into a friendly competition on Saturday, April 14 that will ensure the area is truly spick and span prior to the Sooke Region Earth Day Celebration the following weekend.
To register or learn more, contact Wendy O'Connor at wendyoconnor@me.com or phone (250) 361-6965

Check out our Sponsors and Supporters!

We have amazing things planned for April, from the CleanUp on April 14 to the Planet Earth Party on April 22. And we have amazing sponsors and supporters, donating time and money to our events. Check out their logos below and remember: these people and businesses are supporting community activities in so many ways.

Prizes!

Prizes are a pretty exciting thing. Even a small item or an ordinary one can be pretty darned exciting when it's a prize! And we have some prizes for the teams who'll be busy picking up trash in their neighbourhoods on April 14 at Sooke Region Wide Clean Up. Sign up your team now with Wendy O'Connor at wendyoconnor@me.com The prizes will be picked up on April 22 at Planet Earth Party.

Can't tell you what all the prizes are yet -- but there'll be gift certificates for local businesses, such as Well-Read Books and Sooke Mountain Cycle, among other things. We'll also have LED lightbulbs, thanks to our sponsor Sooke's Home Hardware letting us buy a bunch of them at cost! And there are reusable shopping bags donated by University of Victoria's Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (where students are researching with computers even if they're language scholars, not rocket scientists).

It's enough to get people volunteering, not only at the Clean Up but on April 22. Are you game for helping with the music, or the Paint-In, or directing traffic? Call our coordinator Marlene Barry at 250-884-9955 and tell her you're on the team.

Orca Paint-In work party

There's a lot of preparation going into this Planet Earth Party. On the big day, we're going to have a fun painting project that's particularly good for families -- a chance to paint plywood orca signs and salmon cut-outs attached to sticks. The result will be not only big orca signs to carry in a parade, but lots of "fish sticks" good for parades as well as for decorating planters at home.

However, the kids can't paint orcas and salmon on April 22 if none are ready for painting! So on March 25 a whole crew of people came to the woodworking room at Edward Milne High School, and spent the day doing the preparations. Deb Wood got everyone organized. There was plywood to cut for the big orcas, and cardboard for the smaller fish outlines. All the necessary paint and brushes were put to good use. Whenever people needed to take a break, there was coffee and juice and snacks. It was a wonderful day for volunteering.

When you come to the Planet Earth Party on April 22, keep an eye open for the painting project!

Take time to plan your turn as a volunteer at Planet Earth Party -- call coordinator Marlene Barry at 250-884-9955 to set up your turn. And in the meantime, sign up your team for the Sooke Region Wide Clean Up with Wendy O'Connor at wendyoconnor@me.com - April 14 is this community clean up with prizes awarded at Planet Earth Party on the 22nd.