Junk removal company helps bring personal items home

Photo: 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

A Kelowna crew found a personal item for a client in Vancouver and shipped it out on Dec. 20

It was something Yoree Grozenok, Kelowna franchise partner for 1-800-GOT-JUNK? said he had to do for his client. 

A client from Vancouver contacted the company for a crew to help clean out her late sister’s house in Kelowna but asked them to keep an eye out for a specific item. 

“She’s hoping to find a very special item that her sister had from her father - which was a violin, that her father used to play,” explains Grozenok as they did a walkthrough of the home. 

“We took it personally to find the violin in the house for her as well as clean the house for her.”

As they continued walking through her sister's home, Grozenok explains how the client got overwhelmed with emotion. 

“My client had to settle all of her affairs, at the same time to go through a celebration of life for her sister - it was a very emotional time for her and it was a very stressful time for her because she was trying to handle everything at once,” explains Grozenok.

Not only did the crew find her father’s violin inside a case, but they also found a picture of her dad playing the violin at an event and sheet music.

“She was absolutely ecstatic, I don’t think she realized that it was possible to find something like that,” explains Grozenok when they told her the good news. 

“Maybe she didn’t believe that we would be able to find it… I think she was very touched on a very personal level that we put the effort to find the item inside of her sister’s house. She almost broke down crying when she was talking about it.”

Grozenok says finding special items happens fairly often, but it usually happens when the client is with them, making this case unique. 

“It was a big deal because it was the size of the job - it was a big job - and sifting through the items that was a big effort for us and at the same time the lady was outside of Kelowna and we had to find something without her present and send it to her.”

“We deal with a lot of people who are going through some sort of family change and we always try to go above and beyond for our clients. If there is any memory we can preserve we will always try to do that,” says Grozenok.  

There was a personal moment for him too, that’s why he encouraged his staff to do something special for this client. 

“I felt very connected to that story because my dad passed away tragically 14 years ago and I just imagine what it would mean for me to find a memory of my dad, many years later, especially a special item such as a violin that her dad used to play, and a picture that she hasn’t seen before… to me that was very important because I would feel exactly the same way if this moment was created for me.”

They packaged the violin and other items very carefully and shipped it out to Vancouver to their client on Dec. 20. at no extra cost to her.