I got a letter in the post saying I had to go and see a guy about a job with a treelopping
company. I thought oh yeah, here we go again, another knockback, it's a job with a tree-lopping
company, I can't do that.
You get to the stage where you don't give a damn about anything. But eventually I went, and I
rocked up there in my old clothes, and he said 'You're hired'.
Apples’ tree care business is still growing – and so is his family, he has a little girl! Thanks to
people like you, the Salvos were able to be with Apples when he needed help.
So that led to me working with him for over a year. After that year, he and his wife wanted to
travel around Australia. He came up to me and said 'Would you like to
buy my business?' It was an instant yeah, we'd love to do it. We went
through every avenue we possibly could to get the money so we could
buy it, and now here I am! I'm the boss of my own company.
It was very daunting. I'm not a good reader. If I get an important letter
I've got to get my wife to read it to me. Once she's read it to me, then I
can decipher it all. You know, if it hadn't been for my wife, I probably
wouldn't have done it, because I didn't have any back-up.
When I was growing up my dad was very hard on me. He was a huge
critic of me. He was of the opinion I'd never make anything of myself
The bottom line is he was stern and hard, and brought up in the old
way. But when I told him I was actually buying the business and making a go of it, he was in
tears. He was that proud, and that honoured 'My son's a business owner'.
To have your dad sort of stand there in tears, and he's that proud and honoured for me, you
know that puts a great sense of pride in me too because my dad's finally proud of me.
In all honesty I wouldn't change my arm, I wouldn't change my stroke, I wouldn't change
anything, not one thing, because it's made me who I am today.
The Red Shield Appeal is The Salvation Army's primary annual fundraising drive. The Red
Shield Appeal Doorknock takes place on the weekend of 27 th & 28 th May 2017, and it offers
Australians from all walks of life a chance to not only get behind the Salvos but to be part of
transforming the lives of people right around the country.
Please give your donation to Major Allan Morrison, Fred Farrugia or Wally Spinks on
Wednesday 17 th May 2017
Thank you for your tremendous support.
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Vol 34 No. 4 - May 2017