Cape Breton Post

’Tis the season for trees

Glace Bay Y’s Men’s Club raising money for various causes

- BY SHARON MONTGOMERY-DUPE sharon.montgomery@cbpost.com

Members of the Glace Bay Y’s Men’s and Women’s Club hope when people go out to search for the perfect Christmas tree they’ll head to King Edward Street in Glace Bay.

Bobby Donovan, treasurer, said they just received 125 trees and have more coming.

“We have them from eight feet tall and down so whether you want a big one or a small one, we’ve got it.”

Donovan said the club began selling Christmas trees about nine years ago as a way to raise money for the Glace Bay Food Bank.

The club has already donated $2,700 to the food bank and hopes to recoup the money by selling trees.

“Since we started about nine years ago we’ve given every bit of money from the trees to the Glace Bay Food Bank,” Donovan said. “It would be over $25,000.”

Donovan still remembers the very first tree they sold. While setting up the lot, a man and his 10-year-old son arrived.

“He said his son raised the money for their Christmas tree himself and handed me a handful of change. His mother has come every year since to buy their tree.”

Anyone wishing to purchase a tree from the Y’s Men’s Club can stop by the lot at the corner of King Edward and McKeen streets. Donovan lives in the yellow house on the property and says he has the perfect assistant.

“My dog Fluke sits inside the house and watches the security camera footage from the lot and any time someone appears on the camera he barks.”

In the past month alone Donovan said the club has donated more than $10,000 to various causes. As well as the $2,700 to the food bank, they donated $3,000 to the Christmas light up in Glace Bay, have sponsored singer/songwriter John Gracie with $2,500 for his concert Tuesday at Sydney’s Wentworth Park, and have helped families travelling to medical appointmen­ts in Halifax.

Donovan said they are a Glace Bay club but people come from Sydney and North Sydney to buy their Christmas trees as well as support the club’s bowling alley and laser tag operations.

“We get support from all over so we donate to causes all over.”

 ?? SHARON MONTGOMERY-DUPE/CAPE BRETON POST ?? Billy Burke, a member of the Glace Bay Y’s Men’s and Women’s Club, sets up Christmas trees for sale on the club’s lot at the intersecti­on of King Edward and McKeen streets in Glace Bay.
SHARON MONTGOMERY-DUPE/CAPE BRETON POST Billy Burke, a member of the Glace Bay Y’s Men’s and Women’s Club, sets up Christmas trees for sale on the club’s lot at the intersecti­on of King Edward and McKeen streets in Glace Bay.

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