If you’ve noticed the Great Lakes region is comparatively graffiti-free, there’s a very good reason – the area has a reporting hotline plus its own super volunteer graffiti-buster in the form of Ted Bickford and his band of youth volunteers.
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After 25 years on the job, Ted’s been taking a well-earned break recently, but thanks to his training programs, a band of young volunteers stepped up to the plate in December, removing graffiti from more than 27 sites across the Great Lakes area.
“The first day I took off, there were 19 calls to the graffiti hotline alone,” Ted said. The work to remove graffiti “as soon as it goes up” relies on one thing – the community to phone on 0408 440 309 and report fresh graffiti, as soon as it’s sighted. In the Manning, the number is 0437 764 643.
“I do think there’s been a drop-off in calls while I’ve been away – and that’s probably due to the truck not being on the road,” he says. “People see the truck and it reminds them to call in graffiti.”
There’s a team of young volunteers who Ted has worked with, from high schools, juvenile correction orders and a pool of willing contributors from the general community who have stepped up this summer to help out.
Local heroes Lenai Cunningham and Manning Leon have been volunteering their time for two to three days each week, removing graffiti from all over the southern part of the Mid Coast region.
“Helping out fills my free time,” Lenai says. “It helps Ted out while he takes a break and graffiti is ugly, so removing it quickly is good for our community”.
It can be hard work. Lenai says each tag can take up to an hour of scrubbing to remove. Her dad minds her pre-schooler while she gets the job done.
The two, along with a group of other volunteers, are unsung heroes in the community, to whom we all owe a vote of thanks, but they are not singing their own praises.
“Ted’s a good teacher – a man of the community,” Manning says.
MidCoast Council partners with Ted, supplying him with a ‘Graffiti buster’ vehicle and all chemicals required to remove graffiti from a variety of surfaces. This frustrates the taggers who find their handiwork is wiped clean within a day or so of it being painted.
A similar volunteer effort takes place in the Taree area.
Although the truck hasn’t been on the road this summer, Ted has been able to utilise his young team of graffiti removers, who have done a fantastic job of removing the graffiti across the Great Lakes area.
You can help out by calling 0408 440 309 (Great Lakes) or 0437 764 643 (Manning) and reporting graffiti as soon as you see it – or volunteer and lend a hand.
