News

Ocean Conservancy & American Express Canada - Don River Cleanup July 9th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #americanexpresscanada #amexcanada #communityengagement #communityimpact #donriver #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #garbagecleanup #getoutside #makeadifference #oceanconservancy #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

Holy schnikes! For the month of July we are extending our Stewardship to Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday! This is an excellent opportunity for students who need their volunteer hours or for those who really like hanging out with people named Agrata, Kaylee and Stephen (our awesome DMWTD peeps who will be leading the extra days). We provide everything. We got the gloves. We got the tools. We got the beverages. We got the corny jokes. You like birds? You’ll probably see one of those. Heck, maybe more than one. Meet every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in July at 5:00pm at the DMWTD Containers, 11 Redway Road. #amazingvolunteers #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #stewardship #toronto #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

Paddle & Protect - July 6th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto #welcometothechaosjulian

Moss Park Community CleanUp with Toronto Police Services July 5th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #getoutside #makeadifference #mosspark #toronto #trashcleanup #tps51div #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

A few DMWTD updates: We were out this morning in Cabbagetown/Moss Park working hard with Toronto Police Services and local residents painting over graffiti. Tomorrow is our big clean up and we are meeting at the Ontario St. Parkette at 227 Ontario St. for our 2nd Annual Clean Up and BBQ. 11 am and we have everything including BBQ food and drinks. Please come out of you can. DMWTD has hired our first ever Kayak Lead, Julian. This means we can begin to offer more kayaking options including more evening drop in programming. We even added two more boats today for more fun. Details to be posted here, on Facebook and in our events group (all links can be found in our profile). This summer DMWTD, in partnership with the City of Toronto, will be offering kayak tours of the new mouth of the Don and Biidaasige Park. Details coming shortly. We had two great stewardship events recently with Home Depot and QMC. So much done and so many invasive plants removed. We have a lot of great community groups and companies coming up over the summer who will be stewarding, doing ravine clean ups and paddling clean ups. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #mosspark #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #tps51div #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

Paddle & Protect - June 29th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

Our next big clean up is coming up soon. For the second year in a row we are joining with Toronto Police Services from 51 Division (@tps51div) for a Clean up of the Moss Park Neighbourhood, graffiti removal and an awesome BBQ. Everything is provided. See you on July 5th 🗓️

DMWTD is on the water with our kayaks staying cool and being cool by removing so much trash and plastics from the water/shoreline. Sunday was another great clean up and amongst many things we pulled an old large carseat out of the waters off Tommy Thompson that had been there for a long time. Plastics from the seat and the fabric are no longer leaching into the lake. Thank you so much to everyone who paddled Sunday. DMWTD also hosted our first Kayak Drop paddle ever. To beat the heat we have begun opening up drop in paddling during the evenings. This will occur when we have volunteers to staff the program. One hour of paddling and no registration necessary. The open evenings will be posted in our WhatsApp event group. Year to date 2025: Clean up # 26 1867 bags of trash 37,900 pounds of garbage including 1 ATM, 34 bikes, and 6 mattresses, 74 tires, 22 propane tanks, an electric guitar, and tens of thousands of disposable wipes that should not be tangled beside nor in a beautiful river in Toronto. Thank you. 🛟 DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity

The community we build is the community we want. Thank you so much to all the DMWTD volunteers for being so passionate, kind and giving, and building such a beautiful community. Yesterday we had a group of mountain bikers, artists, children and adults, friends and strangers share our space at the Loblaw's Trailhead. We learned about making paper from Dog Strangling Vine through the amazing Alexandra who shared so much kindness and knowledge. We explored the single track trails guided by our dedicated Mountain Bike volunteers. Different passions but so many of the same values. Respect for each other and the natural world, acceptance and inclusion, and giving to each other. Thank you so much to Alexandra (@clayisalive), a good friend and talented artist who taught us so much about art through the natural world. Thank you to all the great volunteers from Mtn Biking who guide us to embrace the forest. Saturdays at the Container Art Program returns July 12th when we will be looking to help our pollinators with Bee 🐝 Houses 🏠 🏡. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity

Summer Solstice Run 2025, @torontotrailrunners June 18th, 2025 Sunnybrook Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth #donvalley #dontmesswiththedon #drinkpoursport #drinkrally #goodbehaviourto #happytrails #healimedical #madewithlocal #marsquest #rallybeerco #salomon #salomonrunning #salomontoronto #summersolstice #thisisfuelkit #torontotrailrunners #torontotrails #trailrunning #trailyogi #undamovement #wakewaterca #wednesdaynightrun #wednesdaynightruncrew #xactnutritioin

A few days in the life of DMWTD: Thursday June 12 - The last Thursday Night of Arc’teryx Youth Trail Running. Our final spring 2025 session and the kids were faster than the mosquitos. Thank you so much to Megan and Zion (@arcteryx, @arcteryxontario) for all the support. We love this program. Thursday June 12 - We had our first ever Pedal & Protect group. 20 awesome folks from Turner and Townsend (@ourturnerandtownsend) learned how fun the trails are and also cleaned 14 bags of trash on their journey - You might call it Bicleaning (Bike and Cleaning, it works). 🚲 💨 🗑️ Saturday June 14 - 30 odd souls headed out on the trails for our terrific Mtn Biking program. Our Mtn Biking Committee is doing an amazing job of introducing and getting people to fall in love with single track riding. Saturday June 14 - DMWTD was at the Park People Conference making connections and learning about all the great work other groups are doing. Sunday June 15 - The Paddle & Protect kayaking had 24 paddlers cleaning some pretty heavy stuff from Lake Ontario. Thanks to everyone who came out to support our clean waters. Monday June 16 - DWMTD hosted 37 Students and a grand amount of school staff from Toronto French School (@tfscampus). One of our favourite partners and thank you students for removing so many invasive plants. You made a huge difference. Year to date 2025: Clean up # 24 and 25 1852 bags of trash 37,750 pounds of garbage including 1 ATM, 34 bikes, and 6 mattresses, 73 tires, 22 propane tanks, an electric guitar, and tens of thousands of disposable wipes that should not be tangled beside nor in a beautiful river in Toronto. Thank you. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #amazingvolunteers #arcteryx #communityengagement #communityimpact #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #donvalleyadjacent #dreamcyclery #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #marinbikescanada #mountainbiking #mtb #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #paddleandprotect #paddleON #pedalandprotect #riotkayaks #toronto #torontofrenchschool #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

Exciting News - Our first Saturdays at the Containers Environmental Art Program of 2025 🌳 🎨 And it's a good one! - One of our Favourite artists, Alexandra Iorgu (@clayisalive), returns for a second year to lead us in making art from invasive species. Last year we had the best time and learned so much from Alexandra about inks from Buckthorn and paper from Dog Strangling Vine amongst other things. Alexandra is an absolute talent with art and DMWTD was in awe of her magical creativity. There are only 20 spots available for this workshop and pre-registration is necessary. This is a unique opportunity so please do not register unless you can use the spot. One spot per registration and it is for 12 and over and is a great adult craft. It takes place June 21 at 10 am. 11 Redway Road, DMWTD Containers. REGISTRATION IS NECESSARY-Link in our profile. ❤️ DMWTD - a registered Canadian Charity #alexandraiorgu #artsandcrafts #cricketstailisapaintbrush #dontmesswiththedon #environmentalart #nature #natureinthecity #naturelovers #saturdaysatthecontainer

Paddle & Protect - June 15th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

RBC-Global Asset Management Stewardship, June 11th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #garlicmustardshmarlicmustard #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #rbc #rbcgam #toronto #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

"To create a little flower is the labour of ages".🌸 You never know when magical days are going to happen. You might think today might be and with a little luck it is or sometimes a pretty ordinary day floats aloft like a Milkweed seed and becomes something more. Thank you to everyone who made June 11, 2025 a magical day. The amazing folks who came out to tonight's stewardship and gave so much effort removing invasive plants and made a better home for native ones. Thank you to our partner RBC-GAM (@rbc) who was there all afternoon with 20 people, teaming up with our stewards to do even more good work. One of our folks like to say about our little stewardship spot, "Its the prettiest place there ever ever was". Today it sure felt that way. The sun shone so brightly, the breeze was so cool and sweet, and the people made it delightful. Thank you. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #amazingvolunteers #cricketisbacknextweek #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #garlicmustardshmarlicmustard #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #rbc #rbcgam #stewardshipwednesdays #toronto #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

We were at Market Lane PS yesterday partnering with Toronto Police Services and the amazing officers from 51 Division (@tps51div) to do a clean up of the Esplanade with students from grades 1 to 4. We had a great time helping the kids take care of their community and the beautiful parks near the school. Thank you so much to the teachers and kids and to Jenn and all the community officers who came out yesterday. We ran home afterwards and put on our Salomon trail shoes for the final Tuesday Night Youth Trail Group of the spring. Thank you to all the kids who came out for the past four weeks and the amazing parents who support this and come out running with us each week. Salomon (@salomonrunning, @salomontoronto) and Eric make this possible with support in many forms. Trail shoes for the kids to keep so they can keep running and helping us keep this going for the past four years. Coaches, you are the best. Wednesday is a busy day as well and I hope to see some folks come out today at 5 pm for Fighting Dirty 2 - The Invasives Don't Return. Meet at our container hub and we have everything you need to help the native plants and improve biodiversity in the Don Valley. Year to date 2025: Clean up # 24 1826 bags of trash 36,870 pounds of garbage including 1 ATM, 34 bikes, 6 mattresses, 72 tires, 22 propane tanks, an electric guitar, and tens of thousands of disposable wipes that should not be tangled beside nor in a beautiful river in Toronto. Thank you. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #getoutside #makeadifference #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #runningtheravines #salomon #salomonrunning #salomontoronto #toronto #trailrunning #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto #youthtrailrunning

Paddle and Protect- The Canadian Tire Expedition June 8th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

DMWTD was so busy over the last few days that we had to take a nap before writing this post. On Friday we had a wonderful day with employees from M. Moser Associates (@mmosersocial) and together we continued to remove DSV, Garlic Mustard, Burdock and other invasive. This bring the week's total to over 1500 pounds of bagged Garlic Mustard and hundreds of square metres of DSV stopped in it's tracks. Remember this Wednesday at 5 pm is Fighting Dirty 2 - The Invasives Don't Return. Please come out if you can before the DSV seeds. We meet at our container hub at 11 Redway Road. Saturday was Mountain Biking and DMWTD was all over the trails with over 30 riders and instructors. Thank you to everyone from our Mountain Biking Committee who take the time to get the bikes ready and organized and then puts on this incredible ride every Saturday. Sunday was our first official Paddle and Protect Kayaking session of 2025. Our group was over at the Spit removing 14 bags of plastics that are just brutal for the water and were breaking down into microplastics. Thank you so much to everyone who came out. We took out a massive truck tire that was easily the biggest so far from the lake. Paddle and Protect photos to follow in another post as our Instagram person takes a lot of photos. Year to date 2025: Clean up # 23 1812 bags of trash 36,770 pounds of garbage including 1 ATM, 34 bikes, 6 mattresses, 72 tires, 22 propane tanks, an electric guitar, and tens of thousands of disposable wipes that should not be tangled beside nor in a beautiful river in Toronto. Thank you. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity Photos 10, 11 & 18 taken by Candela (@candee.la_) Photos 19 & 20 taken by a wonderful MTB person #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalley #dreamcyclery #garbagecleanup #garlicmustardshmarlicmustard #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #marinbikescanada #mountainbiking #mtb #nature #natureinthecity #naturelover #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #stewardship #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto

The youth trail runners were at it again last Thursday (and Tuesday) up on Dr. Quads and Motown. Week three is now folded and put in the closet. We are having the best time and it will be bittersweet to see the spring group end next week. Thank you so much to all our coaches and in particular to all the parents who are coming out each week to run with us. Thank you so much to Eric and everyone at Salomon (@salomonrunning, @salomontoronto) and Megan and Zion at Arc’teryx (@arcteryx, @arcteryxontario) for supporting this program. Each season of this is so special. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #arcteryx #donvalley #dontmesswiththedon #runningtheravines #salomon #salomonrunning #salomontoronto #trailrunning #youthtrailrunning

Paddle & Protect - June 8th, 2025 #amazingvolunteers #communityengagement #communityimpact #cricketinakayak #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #donvalleyadjacent #garbagecleanup #getoutside #lakeontario #makeadifference #paddleandprotect #paddleON #riotkayaks #toronto #trashcleanup #volunteering #volunteeringintoronto