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Tree chipping benefits Goldstream Food Bank

Company owner will dispose of Christmas trees for a donation

With the Christmas season having come and gone, West Shore residents will soon be looking to put away lights, wreaths and ornaments, and get rid of their tree.

Locals wishing to complete that last task have an opportunity to do that in a convenient location this weekend while giving back to a good cause.

Rod Grier, owner of Total Tree Care, will have his chipper set up in the Real Canadian Superstore parking lot in Langford on Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 7 and 8) from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. to take care of your tree disposal needs. The service is by donation, with all funds going to support the Goldstream Food Bank.

Grier has supported other groups in the past with this initiative and originally approached the food bank about this idea last Christmas.

“The food bank gets a fair bit of help for the Christmas hampers and that type of stuff, but there are people that are still hungry after Christmas,” he says.

Surprisingly, the food bank representative that he spoke to said the organization wasn’t interested, and Grier went in a different direction.

Goldstream Food Bank president Gayle Ireland isn’t sure why that miscommunication happened, but this year, after learning of last year’s mishap, she contacted Grier and left what she calls a “real sucky message” apologizing for last year and asking if he’d consider the idea for this season.

It’s an especially big help for the food bank in the lead up to its most difficult time of the year, Ireland says.

“Summer is the leanest time in that food bank and by having incentives like Rod’s, we can put the money away,” she says.

“And after all of the generous food that’s left over from the Christmas hampers gets used up in food bank hampers, we have money to go out and purchase what we need, and that’s why this is so important.”

Grier, who has owned his arborist company for eight years, says he is simply hoping for a “really good turnout” and some decent weather for the weekend. “The more the merrier.”

joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com