Marlborough Kids' Christmas Tree Pickup Nets $550 For Food Pantry

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A Marlborough grandpa's improvised Christmas tree collection service was a big success.

Following the holiday, resident Ken Vigeant recruited his 5 and 7-year-old grandkids, Max and Noah, to drive around the city and collect trees for a $10 fee. Vigeant wanted to teach the kids about entrepreneurship, and charity.

Vigeant told the kids they could keep half the earnings for all their hard work, but the other half would be used on a grocery shopping spree to benefit the Marlborough Community Cupboard food pantry.

On Thursday, Vigeant reported that the trio — plus Vigeant's wife, who helped navigate the pickup truck — picked up a total of about 100 Christmas trees over the last four weeks. This week, Max and Noah went to a local Dollar Tree and loaded up several shopping carts, spending about $550 on goods to donate to the community cupboard.

The tree pickup was a success partially because Marlborough didn't do curbside tree pickup this year, although residents were able to drop off trees at numerous sites across the city.

Whether Marlborough brings back curbside tree pickup next or not, Vigeant, Max and Noah will be back.

"The boys can't until next year," Vigeant said Thursday. "They had a ball shopping and meeting people who were home when we picked up the tree."