A big-hearted Lanarkshire gardener is launching a Christmas tree removal service and kindly donating a percentage of his profits to Loaves and Fishes.
Former tree surgeon Marc Shields, aka The Electric Gardener, has been at the helm of East Kilbride-based garden maintenance firm Sunshine on Leaf for the last three years.
His services offered in and around the town include hedge and lawn care, tree surgery, planting and renovations – from grass cuts to landscaping.
No stranger to charity work, having previously volunteered with St Andrew’s Hospice, Marc is well aware of the positive impact Loaves and Fishes has in his hometown and was eager to branch out and support the lifeline charity this Christmas.
He told Lanarkshire Live: “I’ve lived in East Kilbride for the best part of 30 years and one of the best things about running a business in your hometown is getting to see old faces and helping out friends and relatives.
“I really wanted to do something for charity. I worked with St Andrew’s Hospice for a few years in their shop in the village which was a nice experience and I’d like to do a lot more of this kind of thing going forward.
“The food bank that Loaves and Fishes operate is a really worthwhile cause. They’re feeding 250 folk a week and that number is rising. It’s been big numbers for a long time now in East Kilbride and all over Scotland.
“Lots of people, even people close to you, will end up using it at some point in their life. It’s very easy to get into a bit of bother financially that might force your hand to go and collect a food parcel or parcel of essentials.”
This festive season, Loaves and Fishes will be dishing out 890 emergency food parcels to needy families in East Kilbride.
This includes gifts for 400 children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas morning.
These staggering numbers have rocketed from last year, which saw the food bank feed a total of 640 people – 190 families and more than 300 children.
Marc added: “I think this time of year when privileged and advantaged people have the ability to sit round a table and have lots of nice food and drink with their families in a warm house, almost to the point of excess, it’s a good worthwhile cause to make sure that people who don’t have an abundance can get the chance to eat well over the next few weeks and beyond.
“I’m of the opinion that if your tummy isn’t full and you’re hungry then you’re unhappy and you can’t function properly and you might make bad choices because you’re miserable.
“It’s essential that people get food and it’s unfortunate that volunteers have to give their time, effort and money to feed people which should be a basic societal issue to handle – but it’s not.”
The environmentally friendly Christmas tree removal service, which will run after New Year, is a real Christmas tree collection saving locals the hassle of trying to dispose of a tree themselves.
To book just send a text or WhatsApp to Marc at Sunshine on Leaf on 07859773519 with your name and address.
Marc continued: “Just leave your tree outside your house and I’ll grab it and then we’ll reuse it for woodchip. It would be great if folk could pre-book it before the New Year so I can work out a route to collect.
“Thirty per cent of all the income from this service will be donated to Loaves and Fishes East Kilbride food bank for them to continue their hard work making up essential parcels for folk going through hardship.”
Marc has also offered his time to Loaves and Fishes with plans to volunteer over the holidays to get those essential parcels to people in need.
Loaves and Fishes chairperson Lesley Davidson said: “Marc is the loveliest guy and I was so impressed when he first contacted with his suggestion of collecting real trees between Christmas and New Year. The plan being that he would donate 30 per cent of his profits to us.
“Don’t you love the creativity of that? We are only too aware that we need our community to survive and thus serve our community. This kind of project is incredible as it helps us, helps those who need real trees taken away and obviously helps our customers!
“That’s a pretty positive project I think. Thank you Marc, thanks for getting in touch and helping. You are the absolute best!”
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