Opinions vary on when the Christmas season officially ends, but for those in Clark County waiting for a signal to pack up the lights and toss out the tree, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were there to help.
On Saturday, hundreds of Scouts, unfazed by a spell of cold and blustery weather, combed the community and collected hundreds of dried-out Christmas trees — with the assistance of their troop leaders and some helpful adults.
Roughly 900 Scouts from close to 50 troops and 700 adults in Clark County participated in this year’s event, said David Cramblett, one of the coordinators. In return for their work, the Scouts asked for cash donations or coats, which would be later given to the homeless by Friends of the Carpenter. Last year, the Scouts managed to collect about 1,200 coats and about 10,000 trees, Cramblett said.
Although the Scouts sent out thousands of fliers indicating when they’d be coming for Christmas trees, inevitably some people missed the 9 a.m. Saturday deadline. But true to the Boy Scout way of always being prepared, Cramblett carried a phone and internet-connected laptop to map the locations of last-minute callers and dispatch nearby troops accordingly.
“People will be calling as the scouts are out there. They say, ‘I forgot to put my tree out,’ ” he said. “It’s pretty hectic, but we try to get everyone’s trees.”
Even over the next few weeks, people will continue to call and ask for assistance. Cramblett said troop leaders will go out and collect 10 to 15 trees over the next two weeks.
The vast majority of the thousands of trees that were and will be collected are going to be shredding and recycled into bark dust, but about 75 will be used to restore salmon habitat.
In Orchards, about a dozen Cub Scouts and their parents and troop leaders roamed the streets. It was a chilly morning, so the boys worked clad in snow jackets, hats and thick gloves. Typically working in pairs, they’d drag the trees from both ends to an adult waiting to lift it into a truck or trailer.
It was the first season Cub Scout Ryder Duncan worked to collect trees, and they were heavier than he thought they’d be. In the first neighborhood they visited, there were only a handful of trees waiting for them, but he and the others were far from discouraged. Almost every time they saw a tree, the scouts would jump out of the vehicle and sprint over to grab it and drag it back to the trailer.
“It’s fun picking up trees and doing stuff with my friends,” he said.
