Shelburne Home Hardware plants mature trees at Greenwood Park

Written By Paula Brown

Shelburne Home Hardware is making sure families visiting Greenwood Park can enjoy their time under shady coverage for years to come. 

Staff from the Shelburne Home Hardware were joined by representatives from the Town of Shelburne, Tree Canada and Home Hardware Stores Limited, last Thursday (June 13) for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the planting of eight mature trees at the Greenwood Park Splash Pad. 

“As a dealer-owner, making sure we provide for communities is what we do, and it's always a good thing to support local,” said Bill Gilliam, owner of Shelburne Home Hardware. “Having trees available for shade is amazing and we're pretty excited about the splash pad getting completed with the bonus feature.” 

The trees planted at Greenwood Park were funded by a grant from Tree Canada as well as Gilliam's own donation. Shelburne Home Hardware received the grant money a few years ago but held off on purchasing and planting the trees in order to align with the opening of the town's first-ever splash pad. 

Since 1992, Home Hardware Dealer-Owners have been rolling up their sleeves and planting trees to benefit the betterment of community areas. 

According to Home Hardware Stores Limited, their dealer-owners have planted more than 30,000 trees at schools, playgrounds, seniors' residences, community parks, conservation areas, and areas that require restorations since the inception of the tree planting initiative more than 30 years ago. 

“This project is all about bringing communities together and building social responsibility. Coast-to-coast, Home Hardware is involved in different communities, being that place people can be comfortable not only in their own homes, but in the communities around them. Anything that Home Hardware can do to help provide that safe space and social responsibility is something we're very proud of,” said Rob Hand, territory manager at Home Hardware Stores Limited.

Shelburne Home Hardware worked with Tree Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes the planting and nurturing of trees in rural and urban communities, in selecting the species of trees planted at the park – maple and basswood. 

“They're all native trees and because they grow really tall, they will provide a lot of shade here for the splash pad and the sports park. You can see all around how maples have done in this area, so it's a good tree to select,” said Ed Borczon, a forestry specialist with Tree Canada. 

Gilliam and Shelburne Home Hardware have previously organized local tree planting initiatives to better the community including the planting of trees near the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex.