You may ask yourself, “How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?” and the answer these days is more if we had some help! The Woodchucks is a program of the Boothbay Region Community Resource Council and we are partnering with the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor in a challenge grant opportunity. The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor has committed up to $5,500 in matching funds for the purchase of a log loader.

A log loader is a piece of mobile equipment consisting of a long extending and 360-degree rotating arm which can lift a single or bunch of logs and load them onto a truck or trailer. It is particularly useful in reaching logs which may be difficult to access directly with a truck. For example, logs which are piled behind a stone wall. A log loader is helpful in lifting logs too heavy to lift manually. It can lift logs out of a truck or trailer to a convenient place to cut, split and stack them. In other words, this equipment can do things which cannot easily be done manually. This will increase the efficiency of operations at the wood lot but also will reduce the amount of wear and tear on the volunteers who work so hard to bring seasoned, dry heating wood to people in the community.

The Woodchucks are a group of 18–20 energetic and high-spirited volunteers who provide seasoned firewood to friends and neighbors in our community who need help keeping warm during cold winter months.  All the wood has been donated by many very generous members of our community, so the Woodchucks have never needed to purchase any wood.  The town of Boothbay has leased to the Boothbay Region Community Resource Council a corner of the public works area where the Woodchucks collect, cut and split the logs and store the wood to be seasoned and ready for distribution.  To protect it from the elements, much of the wood is stored in two large Quonset huts which were generously donated by one of the Woodchucks. This fall, we have already delivered one load (approx. one cord) each to 17 homes and expect to deliver to about 13 or 14 more. 

Boothbay Region Community Resource Council a not for profit, 501(c)(3) organization and all gifts are tax exempt. If you are interested in contributing towards the matching grant, please mail your check to BRCRC, P.O. Box 43, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. Please indicate that the gift is for the “matching grant.”