By Cecilia Nasmith

Cobourg Mayor John Henderson reports success with a new initiative – community projects undertaken with local students.

His first outing was with four international students from William Academy, he said at Monday's council meeting. Accompanied by one student each from Vietnam, Brazil, China and Mexico, they made up a party that went out Saturday for three hours to pick up garbage.

“These students were beyond excited,” Henderson said.

“The trade-off is, I said I would treat them to lunch. It was the first time ever they had been to a Tim Hortons.

“I got questions like 'What's a bagel,' 'What's chili,' 'What does that taste like.' So I can tell you, I blew the budget. We tried a little bit of everything.”

The students agreed to join him on future projects, the mayor said, and the invitation is open to other secondary schools. If any of them would like to be involved, he said, feel free to give him a call.