'To me, recycling is saving the planet'
Published Monday July 6th, 2009
Robert Foster loves his job.
It's not the most glamourous, or the highest paying gig around, but for him picking up recyclables around downtown Fredericton 20 hours a week is a great opportunity and one he's thankful to have been given.
Foster is a low-income resident hired by the John Howard Society as part of a pilot project this summer.
Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday he takes a push cart to 13 special recycling bins throughout downtown, collects the bottles and cleans up the garbage surrounding them.
Although Foster admits he needs the money from the job to get by, he said the most important thing is that he's doing something he enjoys.
"To me, recycling is saving the planet and I believe the planet needs to be changed to help look after the kids of the future, so I am really enjoying doing this," he said.
"It is good exercise, I am helping to keep the city clean, so I think I am doing something important."
Foster, who has been on the job since the beginning of May, will finish work Oct. 20.
His position is paid for through a partnership between Downtown Fredericton Inc. and the John Howard Society. It's one of several jobs available in the downtown core for people who barely get by financially.
The city's three-year-old voucher program, which gives panhandlers an opportunity to do odd jobs for downtown retailers in exchange for food vouchers, is another example.
Bruce McCormack, general manager of Downtown Fredericton Inc., said partnering with the John Howard Society to hire Foster has been a great success and will likely be built on in future years.
"We needed to do something in the downtown because of the number of people that work in the downtown and come to visit and it has worked great," he said. "This is a program that will be growing over the next few years and hopefully we can continue the partnership with John Howard."
Valarie MacCullam, executive director of the John Howard Society in Fredericton, said she hopes more jobs like Foster's become available in light of what she deemed a successful pilot project.
"From our perspective, something like this is great because somebody is out, gainfully employed, doing some important meaningful work and really getting some positive recognition," she said.
"I know we have been told that there has been a significant difference in the tidiness of the downtown core, which is all about the program, and hopefully there will be more programs like this in the future. It is all about building communities and people helping people and it is just a great idea."
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Good work Robert!
TMA