6 ■ Tuesday, October 27, 2015 ■ COMOXVALLEYRECORD.com
2015 COMOX VALLEY CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE TELETHON
Kindling for Kids a hearth-warming way Mark Allan Special to The Record
Sharon and Russ Nelson began supporting the Comox Valley Child Development Association four decades ago. They still do as the 40th annual CVCDA telethon nears. The Nelsons, who started Kindling For Kids last year as a CVCDC fundraiser, have a child development centre connection that predates Nelson
Roofing, their 35-year-old local business. “I started on the board of directors for the child development centre in 1974,” Sharon said in an interview at their spacious, attractive beachfront home in Royston. “Our son, our middle son, went there for therapy,” Sharon added. “We started the telethon in 1975 in the days when we didn’t have live TV,” she continued. “It was all done on
tape in the back of Bronco Moncrief’s TV station.” Moncrief is a former mayor and councillor in Cumberland. In the early days of the child development centre, it was located in Cumberland, before moving to its current address on Third Street near downtown Courtenay. Longtime CVCDA supporters, the Nelsons launched Kindling For Kids last year to help raise operating funds for the child development centre.
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“We just thought it would be a good cause, and a good way to use up the scraps,” Russ says of the Kindling For Kids campaign. “When you’re splitting shakes, there’s all kinds of knots in the cedar, and it’s just wasted. I cut it two feet long for shakes and if there’s a knot in the middle I’ll split until I get to it. “Then I’ll buck it on the chopsaw to eight inches and you’ve got nice pieces of eight inches (of kindling). “The stuff we sell is all nice and clean.” The kindling is easy to use to get a fire started, Sharon says. “I like this because it’s nice and handy,” she explains. “I can pick up a handful; I don’t have to break a big chunk over my knee to get it in the fireplace.” “Kindling’s always been a big problem for a lot of people,” Russ adds. “We’ve burned firewood here forever. You’re always running out.” Family friend Ed Leakey allows Russ to use cedar lying on the ground of Leakey’s woodlot. Once the wood dries, Russ cuts it into kindling. He bags dry kindling into batches of approximately 35 pounds, which sell for $20. All proceeds from the sales go to the child
development centre. Reliable Auto Body owner Mike MacLaren, a friend of the Nelsons, sells it from his business at 787 Cumberland Rd. in Courtenay. The Nelsons also sell it from their beachfront home at 221 Spindrift Rd. in Royston. Their phone number is 250-335-2098. “Mike’s a great guy,” Russ adds. “Last year, he matched us (in donating to the child development centre).” A few years ago, Russ recalls, MacLaren noticed during the telethon broadcast that the Nelsons were donating $500, so he matched that. “We started doing $500 donations years ago from the company,” says Russ, who opened Nelson Roofing in 1980. “Then our son took it over and he kept doing it.” Sharon will again work the phones during the telethon Nov. 1. She will present cheques from Nelson Roofing and Reliable Auto Body during the event, which is the largest fundraiser of the year for the Comox Valley Child Development Association. The association hopes it can crack the $100,000 mark this year, which would be a substantial increase from the $85,000 collected in 2014.
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Russ Nelson hand-splits kindling, which is sold for $20 per 35-pound bag to raise funds to help operate the Comox Valley Child Development Centre.
PHOTO BY MARK ALLAN