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This Vancouver man has picked up thousands of discarded needles (SPH)

Charles Bafford, who lives in a modular housing building at Main and Terminal, spends his days picking up discarded needles in Vancouver. Photo by Dan Toulgoet/Vancouver Courier
Charles Bafford, who lives in a modular housing building at Main and Terminal, spends his days picking up discarded needles in Vancouver. Photo by Dan Toulgoet/Vancouver Courier

What Charles Bafford has displayed on a picnic table in front of his home at Main and Terminal is no longer a shocking sight in the Vancouver of 2019: containers and bags full of needles.  He estimates there are about 1,500.  Some are used, some are still in the package.

What’s significant and impressive about the haul is the 64-year-old Bafford voluntarily picked up every one of the discarded syringes by himself.

He didn’t see the needle concealed in the sweater he picked up. He checked in to St. Paul’s Hospital and got a tetanus shot. That visit will be followed by several more over the next year to ensure he is disease-free.

Click here to read the story on Vancouver Is Awesome.

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