ECSA gather forces to beautify elderly Discovery resident’s garden
Crew works from 7am to 3pm to rid yard of 12 loads of garden debris.
Saturday morning community clean-ups are fast becoming the weekend leisure activity of choice.
Even if the spirit of togetherness is inspiring, the shortcomings of municipal maintenance are no laughing matter. Neither are the safety, security and health of the community’s most vulnerable citizens – the elderly. Emergency Control South Africa (ECSA), the volunteer fire and rescue crew, came to the aid of an elderly man who had been struggling to keep his hedges manicured, 26 March.
The camera-shy Kliprand Street resident had made several attempts to have the City of Johannesburg assist through their social-relief programme after mobility problems left him unable to do the strenuous yard work. “A member of the community contacted us after they had seen our post on Facebook where ECSA attended the Panorama clean-up and requested our help. The well-being and safety of the elderly gentleman were a concern to the neighbours,” said ECSA’s Abby Scott-Dawkins.
The pro bono humanitarians roped in the assistance of Treefelling ZA, Sterlig Kwekery, Garden World and Help24 while TJ’s Convenience Store sponsored hot dogs and refreshments. Starting just after 7am, the guerilla gardeners hacked and carried a total of 12 massive loads – six Hyundai H100s and six 4m trailers packed to capacity with garden debris.
“Initially we only wanted to tackle the front yard and had a separate clean-up day for the back yard, but after the team had seen the state of the yard, we decided to tackle everything the same day. We started the majority of the cutting and opening in the front yard before the team split up for the back yard” said Abby, outlining the process that only came to an end around 3pm.
“Although ECSA is a non-profit fire and rescue community service, our main core value stays the same; we do it for the love of the community. As ECSA we would like to thank each and every individual and company who had a helping hand in making the day a success,” Abby concluded.
