Good Samaritan plows driveways for free in Fredericton

A Fredericton man has taken it upon himself to plow driveways for folks who can’t do it themselves.

Joel Doherty is calling it “Pay it Forward Snow Removal,” and he’s asking other snow removal companies join in.

“Somebody will pay us a $30 flat rate to take care of their driveway for them and in doing so we match that with somebody who could use a hand. So we’ll go out and plow them out for free,” says Joel Doherty of Pay it Forward Snow Removal.

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Betty Martin says she’s benefited from the services Joel Doherty’s business provides.

“It was an early Christmas gift,” she said. “It was really miraculous that somebody would do that for us.”

Doherty got the idea to pay it forward when he helped his neighbours dig out during bad storms.

“My wife and I would drive around when we lived in Nova Scotia for a couple hours when the snow flew and just help people out,” he said, “and I thought, ‘We could probably make this a bigger exercise.'”

“I’m out here because I enjoy plowing. It’s not because I need the money, it’s for fun.”

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So he took his idea to social media and couldn’t believe the response on Facebook.

“The outpouring of people who could use a hand has been phenomenal. It’s single moms whose husband is in the oil patch, its senior citizens who are somewhat shut in,” said Martin.

“I was going through Facebook to find someone to do our driveway and I came across pay it forward and I read it and I thought oh this can’t be true somebody is actually would do this.”

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Martain said she is living on a tight retirement budget and can’t afford to pay for snow removal

“I said, ‘How do you become a recipient of this not a donor a recipient?’ So he wrote me back and said he would be there tomorrow.”

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Doherty started the project this month and says they have grown to 25 clients already.

“Thirteen are paying and 12 are pay it forward, but I’ve got a goal to reach 100 driveways for the season.”