Thank you to the H.T Thrift students who joined us our first session from Ms. Hiddleston’s Class and
Ms. Ordeman’s Class: Mila, Sevik, Sam, Elsa, Simba, Joseph, Austin, Haley, Casey, Jasleen, Arabela, Yulong, Rtistan, Adham, Jack, Sharon, Yu Jie, Ahmad, Bella, Ava, Yiyi, Cathy, Daniel, & Andy!
Thank you to the H.T. Thrift Elementary School students who joined us in our second session from:
Mr. Randhawa’s Class: Anthony, Jason, Eliza, Naomi, Ry, Alan, Mino, Jack, Ralph, Robert, Carrie, Ivy, Hannah, Jesse, Andrew, Dennis, Jaden, Pehel, Arshdeep, Lucy, Ethan, & Olivia!
Mr. Sawatzky’s Class: Angela, Isabella, Marvin, Jane, Simirit, Chris, Asher, Oscar, Julian, Tarek, Ryan, Christian, Marcus, Tommy, Kevin, Fergus, Venus, Katherine, Zainah, Aaron, Cole, Kallen, David, Kaylie, & Muhi!
We had an amazing time celebrating Earth Week by removing invasive Himalayan Blackberry and English ivy to help steward this beautiful park!
Students connected with nature and their classmates while learning hands-on about the environment, they made a great impact together!
Read all about our day below!
Impacts
- 87 students from H.T. Thrift Elementary School were engaged!
- 34 students removed invasive plants for the first time
- 30 students visited Ruth Johnson Park for the first time
- 4 teachers (Ms. Hiddleston, Ms. Ordeman, Mr. Randhawa, & Mr. Sawatzky) brought their classes.
- 8 parent chaperones helped out today!
- 168 hours were contributed towards revitalizing local habitat!
- 6.5 cubic metres (or 40 bathtubs worth!) of invasive Himalayan Blackberry and English Ivy was removed!
- 110 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- This is a new area of focus for us in Ruth Johnson Park after excellent stewardship work in other areas! These students built off the efforts of the community here to start the year, read all about our recent activities here below!
- Students had a great time learning the difference between the invasive Himalayan Blackberry and native Trailing Blackberry as well as the Salmonberry just starting to bloom here! We created space for these native plants to thrive again in this space.
- We also removed some invasive English Holly and learned how to tell it apart from native Oregon Grape!
- Students removed ivy from the trunks and area around the base of several trees in the area, including some vines that had grown as thick as a tree branch! They did great work to rescue and protect these trees!
- Some students found an Ivy vine so long, they could jump rope with it!
- Jesse, Robert, Allan, & Dennis teamed up to remove 84 blackberry root crowns!
- The students walked to and from H.T. Thrift to participate today, a healthy and eco-friendly way to join us! They got lots of exercise at this fun outdoor education field trip!
- Yummy snacks were enjoyed including healthy granola bars and juice boxes before heading back to school!
- This was our Program Assistant Simryn‘s final activity with our team! Thank you so much for all your amazing help Simryn!
- Special thank you to:
- Ms. Hiddleston, Ms. Ordeman, Mr. Randhawa, & Mr. Sawatzky for their work to bring their classes out to this activity and provide their students with the opportunity to learn in nature!
- The parent volunteers who helped set up snack!
- All the teachers, students, and parent volunteers who came out with enthusiasm to help us revitalize this area!
- Thank you to Ross & the White Rock Home Depot for donating a $200 gift card we used to purchase kids gardening gloves and other supplies to help these students be safe and prepared to learn about invasive plants and the impact they can make!
- Another thank you to Chris, a regular LMGT volunteer who recently donated kids safety glasses to our team, another way these students were prepared to have a great day!
What Participants Said
Video of Olivia & Jack, talking about the fun they had learning about invasive plants!
Community Investment Partner
THANK YOU to the City of White Rock for being a Community Investment Partner and providing the financial support and direction to make our work in White Rock possible! Special thanks to Andre & Spencer for their roles supporting this activity!
This activity was a great success and together we made a significant impact on the health and well-being of community members and the environment!
This was the third of eight activities we are organizing in partnership with the City of White Rock this year! We’ll be at West Beach on May 2nd removing invasive blackberry to help protect coastal habitat there and back in Ruth Johnson Park on June 13th to remove the easiest invasive plant to remove, Small Balsam! We would love for you to join us then!
Why We Do This Work
The Lower Mainland Green Team is a program of the charity Green Teams of Canada.
We believe in the transformative power of hands-on environmental activities to empower individuals and strengthen communities.
Through initiatives like invasive plant removals, tree plantings, litter clean-ups and more, we not only foster connections among participants but also deepen their relationship with nature. Spending time outdoors has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety while enhancing mood, focus, and overall mental and physical health.
Our activities are designed to be inclusive, welcoming individuals of all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and skill levels.
What sets us apart is we attract a wide mix of young community members who may not otherwise spend time outside, igniting their passion for nature and environmental care.
We are committed to instilling an environmental ethic that leads to lasting behaviour change. We aim to create a sense of belonging and connection to place, encouraging participants to recognize their ability to make a meaningful impact.
Together, we can all make a difference. Join us as we build a brighter, greener future for everyone!
Staff Who Made This Activity Possible
Our staff work hard to run high-quality community activities. Outreach, activity logistics, social media, reporting on impacts, partnership building, and more – they do it all!
Max Muehlen, our Lower Mainland Green Team’s Program Manager, and Simryn Dhensaw, our Lower Mainland Green Team Program Assistant, led this activity!
Ashton Kerr, the Lower Mainland Green Team’s Partnerships Manager, supported this activity behind the scenes!
This was Simryn‘s final activity with our team! Thank you Simryn so much for all your amazing help across the Lower Mainland from August 2025 through to today!