Marlborough Man's Christmas Tree Pickup Is Part Lesson, Part Charity

MARLBOROUGH, MA — With no curbside Christmas tree pickup available in Marlborough this year, Ken Vigeant saw an opportunity to teach his grandsons about entrepreneurship and community service.

This week, Vigeant and his 5 and 7-year-old grandkids, Max and Noah, began offering a curbside Christmas tree pickup service in Marlborough. Half of the $10 pickup fee will go to the boys, the other half will be used to buy items for the Marlborough Community Cupboard food pantry.

After posting about the service on Facebook, Vigeant, his wife (who serves as the team's navigator), Noah and Max have been busy. On Thursday morning, Vigeant was in his truck heading to a pickup site. The group has collected about 35 trees so far, and estimates they'll average about 10 per day.

"It really took off," Vigeant said.

During a pickup, Max and Noah, both Marlborough residents, hop out of the truck and drag the tree to their grandfather.

"They're 7 and 5, so I have to throw it in the truck for them," he said.

Vigeant says he's not worried about getting too busy — he's retired — but doesn't know if things will change when the city opens dropoff sites on Jan. 9. When all the Christmas trees have been picked up, he's planning to take Max and Noah to a grocery store to shop for food and sundries for the cupboard.

On top of requests for collections, Vigeant says he's received some people offering assistance and donations — including $10 from an artificial tree owner who wanted to help out. But Vigeant wants his grandkids to learn about work, earning money and giving back.

"It's about the kids, not helping us," he said.

If you need your tree picked up, contact Vigeant via call or text message at (774) 556-4402.

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