Contractor saves forgotten Christmas ornaments from chipper
'I just can't chip them,' says contractor for city's Christmas tree recycling service
It's a collection of more than 400 one-of-a-kind Christmas ornaments in the hands of an unlikely saviour.
"I just can't chip them. It just doesn't seem right to trash somebody's memory like that," said Doug Panchuk, owner of Shurwood Forest Tree Service in Winnipeg.
For the last seven years, Panchuk has been the contractor for the City of Winnipeg's "Let's Chip In" Christmas tree recycling program.
Approximately 15,000 trees are dropped off at depots around the city each year. They all eventually make their way through Panchuk's chipper, but every so often the operation is halted to save a Christmas memory.
"The ornaments I keep are one-of-a-kind ornaments, so I know they were special to somebody. I guess in the hurry to clean up in a post-Christmas environment, some things were forgotten along the way," said Panchuk.
The ornaments are top of mind for Panchuk, who still has last year's loot in his truck. It includes a baby's first Christmas ornament, a metal ornament that says "faith" and numerous other pieces with personal inscriptions.
A spokesperson with The Forks said other rescued ornaments are hung on the equipment used to maintain river ice on the Red River Mutual Trail.
Panchuk has a soft spot for the ornaments he finds, stemming from his own Christmas tree and the special trinkets on its branches.
"When I sit and look at my tree … it's never the same one year to the next because there's a new ornament, or in our case, we have three grandchildren, so there's multiple new ornaments. And let's be honest, they're not high-quality, but what they are filled with is genuine love. It's from the heart of that child," said Panchuk.
Panchuk invites anyone who thinks they may have left a special ornament of their own in their Christmas tree to reach out.