Outside of a few added safety measures, it’s been business as usual for Grant Waters and his landscaping team at Fallingwater Property Services.
“We are probably one of the least affected I’d imagine,” said Waters, a supervisor with the company.
With business staying steady amidst the current struggling economy, Waters wanted to give back. And after hearing about a story of a handyman offering free services for those impacted by COVID-19, Waters and the team felt inspired to cultivate their own plan.
“I realized, you know, basically we can do the same. we should be following in his footsteps and give back,” said Waters.
So about a month ago, the team started seeking nominations for health care workers to receive a free spruce up to their yard. Each Saturday, the Fallingwater Property Services team members sacrifice their time to make the lives of frontline workers a little easier. Tammie Enyurekli, the clinical nurse leader in the emergency department at Victoria General Hospital is one of over a dozen health care workers to already receive the service.
“I haven’t had the time to do a lot of work [on my garden] because I’m working all the time here. I feel blessed like I feel like I don’t deserve it but it makes me feel like we live in an amazing community,” said Enyurekli.
“They’re obviously the ones with the most stressful lives right now. You know we are very blessed where we live that we have a lot less [COVID-19 cases] than the other provinces, but still, that stress is there,” said Waters.
And the company’s generous act has laid the roots for other landscapers across the province to give back in their communities.
“We loved the idea,” said Jeff Foley, CEO with Burnaby-based Para Scapes Landscaping. “They asked if we could help to fulfill a nomination for some nurses that lived in New Westminster, so when this idea got brought to us we thought, what a great idea to give back again and with the challenging time we’re in, people couldn’t be more deserving,” said Foley.
Para Space Landscaping has since started its own initiative to help health care workers in the greater Vancouver area, all stemming from the Victoria company’s kind act of a little pro-bono pruning.
“For us to be able to give back to them, it’s a big bonus,” said Waters.
What started as one good deed, has now blossomed into so much more.
“I’ll take this forward what they’ve given to me. I’m gonna move this forward and give to charities of their choice,” said Enyurekli.
“I mean it feels awesome, it’s totally worth it,” said Waters.
Kevin Charach
