Yaletown comes together to help local street sweeper

This is Todd Stanley-Machowski and while the streets of Vancouver are his home he calls the Seawall and Yaletown neighborhood his office.

“I don’t know, I enjoy it, it doesn’t feel like work even after 15 years,” said Stanley-Machowski.

Stanley-Machowski spends his days going up and down the streets and walking paths of Yaletown cleaning up trash, cigarette butts, and other debris. 

He says when he arrived in Vancouver 15 years ago, he picked up a broom and started cleaning up part of the neighborhood to keep himself busy and away from old parts of his life.

“My life changed for the better almost instantly.”

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Due to his health issues Stanley-Machowski relies heavily on a wheelchair. 

Recently when he was sweeping up a few pieces of broken glass, his wheelchair, phone, and everything else he owned was gone.

After learning about what happened to Stanley-Machowski, Yaletown residents Della Vorshuk and her husband, Andre, started a GoFundMe to raise money to replace what he lost and help out with other essentials. 

The fundraiser has already raised more than $4500.

“Todds great, he’s a fixture of Yaletown you see him all the time out there cleaning and he does an amazing job you can tell the parts of the Seawall he has done, and the parts that he hasn’t done,” said Andre Vorshuk, fundraiser co-organizer. 

While Stanley-Machowski says he doesn’t want any extra attention, he says he’s grateful to be included in a community he loves.

“These people are people I admire, and respect and people I look up to and they’ve helped me so much that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else anywhere else for anyone else,” said Stanley-Machowski.

For Stanley-Machowski the community he cares for is now caring for him.