New Maryland boy raises hundreds to clean up graffiti

An eight-year-old boy has raised hundreds of dollars to help clean up graffiti in his New Maryland neighbourhood.

Ben Hamilton said he noticed the vandalism on some community mailboxes about six weeks ago.

"Our village is very neat. So when I found out that it was kind of dirty, I did not like it," he told CBC News.

"So I decided I should make something to do about it. I was like, 'Can we do something to help?' And it was like, 'Yeah.'"

Ben has been making and selling freezies at his elementary school — $1 for half a freezie, $2 for a full one.

He set out to raise $160, but ended up with about four times that amount.

"The kids at school thought it was really cool to be neat and more proud of themselves of doing something good to help," he said.

Ben will present a cheque to village council on Wednesday to buy cleaning supplies and spray paint.

He's excited about his project to clean up his neighbourhood, he said.

"I feel that it would be really neat and I will love seeing it neat and tidy. And it would be really cool to see [the mailboxes] sparkle."

Ryan Hamilton, his father, said he couldn't be more proud.

He said it didn't take any prodding on his part for Ben to get involved.

"I figured some other child would probably do something, and it turns out it was our child who really wanted to do something," said Hamilton.

"It was one of those things that he continued to talk about and he just thought that young people should be more respectful than that and it turned into some action that he wanted to take," he said.

"It's been really great to see him sort of take up this challenge and to see him get excited about all the little steps and all the little progresses to champion the cause so it’s been wonderful for us to see it as parents."

Ben says he would do it all again, but he hopes he doesn't have to. He wants to see an end to graffiti in the village.