THUNDER BAY -- When Chelsea Schelhaas returned from a long weekend trip to Waterloo and saw the mess campers had made of an area near Sandstone Lake, she decided she and her friends should get to work.
Though she wasn't even at the popular party spot over the weekend, the 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Churchill said she was upset by the pictures and video on social media showing the camping area turned into a garbage dump after the Victoria Day weekend. So after school Tuesday afternoon, she and four friends took two trucks and some garbage bags to the area to clean it up.
"I had a feeling that other people wouldn't so I got some friends together and we headed out," she said.
"I just wanted to get it done."
Schelhaas said she's grateful that some young people did pick up after themselves but those that didn't made a poor statement for the city's youth.
"I think we also corrected that statement," she said.
But that's not why Schelhaas and her friends did it.
"I'm more hoping we can use this as a learning experience for future years," she said.
Sandstone West Campers' Association member Yvonne Homer said she's thankful that Schelhaas and her friends helped out.
"Kudos to her. I wish more young people like her would come forward," Homer said.
"That's the kind of teenagers and young adults we want to see."
"That part alone makes me feel good."
But with around 300 people heading to Sandstone for Victoria Day, Labour Day and various graduation parties, garbage is the least of the area's problems in the past few years. Homer said campers have always headed to the point. But parties have grown to cover the entire airstrip with fires and vehicles across the entire area while people who own camps are harassed when they pass by.
"It's not just a safety issue for the campers. It's for the kids themselves. It's getting out of hand," she said.
The association has been in contact with the OPP and MNR. Homer said they just want to see everyone have a safe time at Sandstone.
