Both decided the garbage at the baseball area this spring was too much to leave without taking action.
“It was a total mess,” says Fallis, “We had never seen it that dirty before. Because of all the snow this winter, litter that had been tossed on the hill got trapped under the ice.”
Armed with garbage bags and rubber gloves, the two Leaside High alumni arrived at a Monday night baseball practice prepared to work.
“We’d watch an inning, then clean the hill, watch another inning, then do all the stands,” said Fallis. “Several people walking by stopped to thank us.”
Before…and after the cleanup.
The two estimated they filled about 10 bags and also piled up the many broken branches and tree limbs into one heap.
The most unusual items they found? Some frozen baseballs that had popped open and a couple of 10-pound gym weights.
Both noted there are three garbage cans in the area that people could have used.
“Honestly,” says Fallis, “how could we watch the game and not clean up the park?”
Fallis and MacLellan grew up in Leaside and both graduated from Dalhousie University. MacLellan now works full time as a program director for outdoor camps, Fallis is studying midwifery at McMaster University.