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National | Awa

Muscle from many helps clean waterways

Over 56 thousand Kiwi men from around the world are joining together to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our times - Cleaning the Earth.

The "Kiwi Daddys" (affectionately called the "KD's") started life as a Facebook page and has grown into a cohesive unit tackling some of the biggest problems facing our country, including poverty, homelessness, domestic violence and child abuse.

This Saturday Auckland-based Kiwi Daddys will be joining forces with the only female 'KD', TV personality and well known Environmentalist Kiri Danielle to address the issue of litter blowing out to sea.

After seeing Kiri Live on Facebook pulling a couch out of a stream, the Kiwi Daddys decided she needed some muscle and volunteered to help Kiri no matter where she travelled in the world in her efforts to clean up.

Determined to leave a cleaner earth for our children, 'KD' and the 'KD Brotherhood' have now joined forces to take a stand together and lead by example. So far they have led clean up events in Rotorua, Tauranga and Taupo.

"At 10am we will roll up our sleeves, don gloves and bags and getting suck in. We need to show New Zealanders and visitors to our beautiful country that we care - we are loosing hold of our Clean Green paradise of the pacific. We are making a mess - but we can change that - and clean up instead"

"The event on Saturday is going to open a few peoples eyes'. 'I guarantee I will find litter on the beach - even if they send out every council worker an hour beforehand to clean it up" Danielle said.

"We have one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, and some of the most resourceful minds - we always bx above our weight on the international stage and this is another example."

"We are ruining our beautiful country at an alarming rate - just in my lifetime I have seen the devastating effects of not caring about our environment - of taking this pristine paradise for granted...  and quite frankly - we've made a real mess and its tidy up time!" she adds.

Danielle started this work in Rotorua 7 years ago when she grew tired of people littering around her favourite Mudpools opposite the Te Puia Maori Arts and Crafts Institute.

"There was rubbish there every day - and every time I clean the litter up - it would be back within hours. So I decided to do something about it and I made a promise not to stop until I had"

In support of the kaupapa, the haka 'Ka Mate' will be performed early next year as a challenge to the rest of the world to clean up together for our children.