Thousands of groups across Canada, equipped with free materials supplied by PITCH-IN CANADA, will be swept up as they partake in community clean-up and beautification projects during OPERATION: Clean Sweep taking place April 24-30, 2006.

Hundreds of thousands of volunteers are predicted to participate in thousands of projects during the campaign and the PITCH-IN CANADA team is confident they will beat last year’s record turn out of more than 5,709 schools and groups. "Registrations started coming in early this year," says Miki Murray, Program Coordinator, PITCH-IN CANADA. "Even though the deadline for registering projects is March 31, some groups already registered last September for our campaign in April!"

With strapped municipal budgets and inflated costs of materials, communities are eager to involve volunteers in clean up and beautification campaigns. Many are asking PITCH-IN CANADA to supply them with free materials provided by this year’s sponsors of PITCH-IN CANADA Week: TD’s Friends of the Environment Foundation, The Sunoco-Suncor Energy Foundation, BC Hydro POWERSMART, The Trillium Foundation and the Government of British Columbia.

"Canadians have been supporting the PITCH-IN Week campaign since 1969. A clean environment is obviously important to them and the PITCH-IN program has continued to capture their interest and enthusiasm," adds Misha van Veen, newly appointed Program Manager for PITCH-IN CANADA and herself a long term supporter of the campaign.

The annual campaign has become the focal point for communities participating in various environmental programs promoted by PITCH-IN CANADA, ranging from volunteers adopting city streets, parks and vacant lots and paint-up/fix-up/ beautification programs to efforts by young and old to clean up whole city neighbourhoods, ravines and waterways.