Losing the paper trail
Lions Club volunteer Dick Wade holds an increasingly rare bundle of flyers. The group is losing money for charity projects as newspapers become smaller.
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Updated: July 27, 2009 5:37 PM
Service group suffers as print falls by the wayside
When Dick Wade’s volunteer job gets easier, life for a lot of people gets a little bit harder.
Wade, an 84-year-old Langford resident, has hauled endless tons of newspapers and flyers to the recycler since 1986, bringing in steady cash for Lions Club charity projects.
But with a poor economy, thinner newspapers, fewer flyers and just fewer people donating old newsprint, Wade said the paper trail is running dry. Normally Wade and his colleagues would recycle enough paper to earn about $1,000 per month for the West Shore Lions Club, formerly the Metchosin Lions Club. In the past six months, that’s dropped to about one-third of what it was, he said.
“I don’t really know why,” Wade said. “People don’t put papers in the boxes anymore. People are too busy I guess. It’s just not there anymore.”
The Lions have more than 20 yellow drop boxes scattered around Langford, Colwood and Metchosin. Wade said last year they would need to make two trips to collect all the donated paper.
“Now I can do the same route and not get a full load of paper,” he said. “That’s how badly its dropped.”
Money from paper recycling isn’t the Lions Club’s only source of fundraising, but it’s a big piece of its bread-and-butter, said Frank Chevrier, West Shore Lions president.
“It’s a major source of fundraising money,” he said. “We’ve really got to watch our spending and make sure we have sufficient money to stay afloat.”
Over the years, the Lions have donated a Jaws of Life to the Metchosin fire department, built wheelchair ramps, bought wheelchairs, and donated money to local schools, girl guides and cub scouts. Wade said he’s worried they won’t have enough money to donate to the West Shore Christmas Hamper fund.
Wade joined the Lions in the early 1980s after retiring from a life at sea, working on tugboats and freighters. He moved to Langford in 1954.
“I was a marine engineer in the end. I was a flunky to start with,” he said laughing.
Hauling hundreds of pounds of papers into a truck each week would be an exhausting task for a man half his age. Wade says it’s not that bad — after three or four hours he goes home for a nap.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can. I like doing things for people. It’s why I joined the Lions.”
To donate to the West Shore Lions, call 250-727-7986 or see westshorebc.lionwap.org.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
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