Moncton — As news of the most recent winter storm came in, Wendy Marsh of Moncton became concerned about many of the residents that make use of her shelter. With the high wind-chills and blowing snow, she was worried that the severe cold could cause permanent damage to the city’s best lawn decorations.Marsh is one of several volunteers who help keep the Moncton chapter of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Lawn Furniture going even in the coldest months. “Many people don’t realize that lawn chairs, tables and even those plastic pink flamingos can receive some serious damage during storms like this,” she explained.
The NSPCLF was established in 2006 as a way of preventing unwanted and abused lawn ornaments and furniture from ending up in dumpsters and landfills. In many cases, volunteers have had severely damaged furniture brought to them in an almost unusable state.”Most of our residents here are usually brought in because of weather damage, but we do get some who have suffered from serious physical abuse,” said Kara Fraser, director of operations.”Someone has a party, has a bit too much to drink, and before you know it, someone’s smashing plastic lawn chairs over someone else’s head thinking they’re Hulk Hogan. When it finally gets to us, it’s only in pieces and we have to bandage it up and get it back together. We go through a lot of duct tape at the NSPCLF.”So how should you best prepare your outdoor-living decals for an oncoming storm? “We recommend you bring all of it inside where it’s warm. Give them a good polish, pet them and let them know you care. It goes a long way toward keeping the furniture happy and long-lasting.” Fraser added that they were well prepared for this most recent storm, and are hoping they can get their flock of flamingos and at least one family of gnomes back outside soon.