Community group cleans up West End

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This article was published 18/09/2019 (2215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group of volunteers is cleaning up the West End for local students.

Barangay West End is spending September cleaning up needles, cigarette butts, and drugs from school playgrounds, to help students stay safe as they head back to school this fall.

Haibee Maderal, one of the administrators of Barangay West End, said they found lots of syringes around the schools.

“It’s alarming, I myself have kids. Seeing (these) drug tools they’re using around our schools I want to get mad for these (drug users),” Maderal said. “But it’s also responsible to be helpful to our neighbours, family and friends. This is a small thing we can do, but it’s something that (we) can do to help our community.”

Maderal said their first attempt to clean up was on Aug. 24. They went to multiple schools, playgrounds, as well as a few of the streets nearby. Maderal said they were finding so much drug paraphernalia that they decided to extend the cleanup times through September.

The word “barangay” means “village” or a small community in Tagalog, but the group welcomes everyone from any background to join. Similar Barangay groups have started up in the North End and St. James. Barangay West End hopes to inspire other residents to start looking out for their community.

Jennifer Chen, Winnipeg School Division trustee for Ward 6, joined the group as they cleaned up school grounds on Aug. 24. She hopes that Barangay West End will inspire community residents to watch out for each other.

“We need more (organizations) like this that will do community building work. We’re often too busy with our life and our work, but for the younger generation, I want to encourage more (people) to watch out for each other,” Chen said. “We need police, yes, but if we can do our part as residents, it could be a powerful way, in terms of reducing crimes.”

Chen said she plans to follow up with the Winnipeg School Division to see if there’s a way schools can create their own clean-up crews, to clean up the grounds before school starts in September.

The group formed about five months ago, after the death of teenager Jaime Adao Jr., who died in a home invasion police believe was fuelled by meth.