If you’ve been to the Bennett Centre lately, chances are you’ve seen one of William Lachuta Jr.’s labours of love up close.
The 76-year-old has been busy hand-crafting cardboard sculptures, several of which are on display in the facility’s lobby.
From a massive seven-foot Godzilla to a colourful sailboat or an intricate logging truck, Lachuta’s handcrafted items are conversation pieces for the centre’s fellow residents, with some stopping to marvel at his work as he chatted with HaltonHillsToday.
What started as a way to pass the time when he was hospitalized last year with COVID-19 has turned into a serious hobby, with some projects taking dozens of hours to complete.
“I was in the Milton Hospital for six months and three weeks. I was sitting around with nothing to do, so I figured I better do something,” he said, adding, “I had a 45 per cent chance (to live), but I was a tough old buzzard.”
Lachuta said his creations started off small, but eventually got larger and larger as he honed his craft.
He uses pictures for inspiration, along with his ”great imagination.”
The local resident often gives his sculptures away as gifts, like a truck he made for his son with coffee cup lids for wheels and a tree he crafted for the nurses that cared for him at the Milton Hospital.
He said he has also sold a couple pieces and plans on making more going forward.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun,” he said. “I just need my scissors, glue gun, string and a measuring tape, and I go for it.”
