Pop tab collection is weighty benefit for Ronald McDonald House
As part of a school-wide community service project last year, students at Carpentersville Middle School collected 1,100 pairs of gently used shoes to donate to "Share Your Soles," an organization that collects children's shoes and sends them to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and other Latin American countries.
This year they've set their sights on Ronald McDonald House, where parents of children who are in a nearby hospital can stay at night for reduced or no cost.
CMS will participate in the Ronald McDonald House Pop Tab Collection Program. Their goal is to collect one pound of the tabs used to open aluminum cans for each student, which will add up to about 750 pounds of aluminum tabs. Ronald McDonald House turns in the tabs for recycling and uses the money they receive to support their houses.
So far, after just three weeks, the school has collected 20 pounds.
Holly Candella, a literacy coach at CMS, helps facilitate the school's restructuring process along with Amber Askelson. They explained that community service projects are part of the comprehensive school reform program.
The school, which is hopefully in its last year on the No Child Left Behind academic watch list, has implemented the program to help raise test scores. They recently received a letter from the Illinois State Board of Education, saying CMS has received an academic improvement award. It continued to say that their scores are improving and they're showing an upward trend on state tests over the last few years.
Candella said they chose the Ronald McDonald House Pop Tab Collection Program because it was something that the community could easily get involved in. She also wondered how something so small could make such a big difference.
"I wondered why the pop tops were such a big deal. I thought how can that help? How can that add up?" Candella said.
"When we questioned Ronald McDonald House about that they said that those little pop tops have higher aluminum content than cans. So actually, those are more valuable than the can itself. If we do a good enough job of advertising, the community can easily get involved too. They can easily collect pop tops, it's not just something the kids can do."
So CMS has encouraged students to get the word out to family and friends to save the little pop tops before they toss their cans into the recycle bin. The student body has been divided into five teams, who will compete until May to see which team brings in the most pop tops. The winning team will get a movie afternoon and treat.
Candella reports that even though the project just started, they have already seen interest from the community.
"We've had a couple of kids who have brought in great big huge bags that the families or neighborhoods have been saving. We had a substitute nurse in the other day whose children go to school in Gilberts and she said they've been saving pop tops for years and years and didn't know what to do with them. She was going to go home and tell her grade school kids that they would be helping other children if they donated them to CMS. The Moose Lodge in Carpentersville will also be collecting them for the school," she said.
Candella hopes the community will remember CMS as they take their cans out to the recycle bin.
"They could call and Amber and I would be happy to pick them up if it's a restaurant or a business or they can bring them in themselves," she said.
Carpentersville Middle School is at 100 Cleveland Avenue. Their phone number is (847) 426-1380.
No leaf left behind
Get those Kraft bags filled, because the last week of November will be the last yard waste pickup for the year.
Residents are required to place their lawn clippings, garden debris and leaves in the biodegradable brown paper Kraft bags. Bags are to weigh no more than 50 pounds. Branches are to be no more than 3 inches in diameter and brush bundles must be no longer than 4 feet in length, weigh no more than 50 pounds and must be tied with biodegradable string or twine.