This “Little Grey Work Horse” is still trotting along – while supporting Special Olympics

July 10, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A lot has changed in Caledon over the past 18 years, but one thing has stayed the same: Harold Janes and his family with their “Little Grey Work Horse.”

People in the community are invited to drop their recyclables in the “Little Grey Work Horse,” the name which Janes has dubbed his trailer, which sits in their driveway at 27 Goodfellow Cres. in Bolton.

The Janes have been collecting everything from E-waste to wine bottles to Christmas lights, all to support local charities.

On July 7, Janes was able to make a $500 donation to Special Olympics Caledon.

This is just scratching the surface, as he has estimated that he has raised over $150,000 for charities all over.

Every time they reach $500, they turn around and donate it back to the community.

In the past, these charities have included Bolton Sea Cadets, Meaghan’s Music Room, GOALS and more.

Janes said this all began after a few yard sales for charity.

They would always have electronics left over, and once a friend told him he could drop them off and get money back, Janes said it took off from there.

It’s a small but mighty team, with Janes and his wife as the founding members, and his son helping out to load up all the donations.

The Janes have a special-needs daughter of their own, so being able to give back to these organizations means a great deal to their family.

“This is why we kind of go with special needs groups, because we know how much fundraising and support needs to be done,” said Janes. “They don’t get recognized nearly enough.”

“It’s just our little piece of feeling good and being able to give back. I know everybody can’t shove their hand in the pocket and pull out money, but everybody’s got a piece of electronics, or everybody’s got some old wire cords hanging around, or they got some wine or beer bottles they had at a party the night before, and they can give back that way,” he shared.

He said that their family doesn’t take a cent from the donations, not even for gas back and forth from dropping everything off.

“Not even for a coffee!” he joked.

“Every penny that anybody drops off, when I cash it in, every penny of that goes to whatever group I’m supporting at the time,” said Janes.

He shared that they have no plans of stopping as of now.

“Nobody can tell the future. I’m just going to keep it going the way I’m going right now and keep supporting the groups, and we’ll just see what happens in the next few years.”

Donations can be dropped off at 27 Goodfellow Cres. in Bolton. and to contact Janes, you can reach him at haroldkjanes@gmail.com.