Frost Creek transfer station attendant Chad Love has a name that suits him.
Friendly, positive and helpful, you can tell he enjoys his job.
One Friday morning in October, when the Tribune interviewed him there was a pair of figurines carefully placed on a small shelf inside his office.
“I’m saving them for this lady who comes to the share shed regularly. She likes stuff like that,” he said.
In October 2022, Environmental 360 Solutions Ltd. of Edmonton bought Cariboo Disposal and the company has the contract to run the transfer stations for the Cariboo Regional District.
Love’s manager, Erin Rochefort, had nothing but praise for Love, describing him as “quite the character.”
“He is an amazing, great, old soul, such a great personality,” she said.
Born and raised in Orangeville, Ont., Love lived in Victoria for about 25 years where he and his brother owned a retail store.
They closed the store in 2019 and went into wholesale and today still have a business, Skookum Prints, making vintage-style postcards and art.
About 15 years ago, he bought property near Canim Lake where he has been building a few cabins.
Wanting to permanently get out of Victoria, he started looking for property in the Cariboo and four years ago bought a home in Wildwood where he lives with his partner Tiffany Chatfield, who is originally from Montreal, Que.
The share shed at Frost Creek is popular and busy, with Sunday being almost “overwhelming,” because there are so many people coming and going.
Once a week Love tidies the share shed and said there is a volunteer who comes on Thursdays from Community Living to cleans it up as well.
Love does not know if the volunteer will be able to be there in the winter months, but said he really appreciates the volunteer’s efforts because the share shed gets messy very quickly.
“It’s a shame because everything comes in so nicely, folded and clean,” he added.
Working at the transfer station is a perfect fit because he has always enjoyed fixing things, especially old things.
Inside his little office he has furnished it with items he salvaged from the transfer station such as a water cooler, a fridge, a heater, which he found in the wood pile, and a small lounge chair.
“This I got last year,” he said, pointing to another small heater he uses to dry his boots. “I bring two pairs to work and at noon I take one pair off, put them on the heater to dry and put on the other pair.”
At one of the other transfer stations an attendant found an old cream separator that Love took home to fix.
One of the most surprising things he found so far was a hammer-stone.
“It was just sitting in the share shed one Sunday. I was like wow, that’s not something that should be thrown out.”
Sometimes when he sees certain donations, he wonders if they belonged to someone who has died.
“I can tell they have been in someone’s care for a long time. It’s a shame and I feel badly seeing things like that there. It’s like a family treasure.”
Finding good homes for items also brings him joy.
“I know there are so many people who really appreciate things. The stuff some people throw out into the bins sometimes is crazy. I will pull things out and place them in the share shed.”
Love is also known for posting road reports on social media based on what he sees driving from his home in Wildwood to the transfer station on Dog Creek Road.
When the weather is bad or the roads are bad, he will provide an update so people starting their day know what to expect.
“People have always said they appreciate it.”
Wildwood and Williams Lake remind him of the small town he grew up in, he said.
“I like the people up here. There’s more room too.”
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