It’s time to make our annual New Year’s resolutions – and keep them.
For Leaside Life that means launching new features and columns. One that is already close to my heart is an initiative we’re calling Don’t Mess With Leaside, or DMWL. Many of you have likely heard of the very active group Don’t Mess with the Don, which we’ve written about before in Leaside Life.
This volunteer group is dedicated to doing much more than just cleaning up the Don. As they state on their website: “We are looking not to simply clean up but rather to fix issues at the source and stop the recurring problems and behaviours that are the cause.”
That’s also the thinking behind the very Leaside-local new initiative, DMWL, with John Scott, who served on Don’t Mess with the Don’s board, and entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Bolté, founder of ecoMVMNT, helming the many activities we’ll be introducing over the next few months.
As John Scott says in his introduction to DMWL, “A group of committed Leaside residents is launching a 12-month program to … keep Leaside beautiful – one year of less litter in Leaside, beginning this month.”
These efforts will reinforce the work of one individual – Cheryl Vanderburg – who for many years wrote Leaside Litterati, in which she raised awareness of the scourge of litter. Thank you, Cheryl!
We are fortunate to know people who really care about our personal environment. As John Scott wrote this month, “We could kick that litter down the street, walk around it, or pick it up. We hope you will join us in doing much more picking up over the coming months!”
What a great resolution to kick off 2026. Happy New Year!
