St. Lawrence College students use class project to do good deed

There’s nothing like braving the elements on a brisk morning to do a good deed. That’s how three Police Foundation students from St. Lawrence College in Kingston spent their Monday morning.

Part of the curriculum includes a community engagement project and the trio decided that for theirs, they’d clean up the playground of a housing complex near the St. Lawrence College campus.

“We wanted to get it done before all the snow was on the ground before it all got covered up and inaccessible,” project organizer, Ryan Reay-Vermette said. “That way when it melts, children can go play and be safe.”

Kingston & Frontenac Housing Corporation owns the complex and provided the group with cleaning supplies. They spent about four hours ridding the playground of things like coffee cups, pop cans, water bottles and even discarded clothes.

“We walk by this area often when we’re going to school. We’ve seen that there’s lots of garbage on the ground,” Reay-Vermette said.

Another student, Sidney Osmond, said being a part of this project was especially important to him because the complex they were cleaning up reminded him of one he lived in as a child.

“It’s just really like a community within a community,” Osmond said of the complex. “You know, people do little get-togethers and picnics, especially for kids. It’s a nice way to start socializing and make some pretty close-knit friends.”