A Colorado Springs man recently made a sizeable, if somewhat unorthodox, donation to Ronald McDonald House.
On Thursday, Roger Wertheimer drove to the temporary home for families of critically ill children and dropped off a collection that took more than a decade to build, with a little help from his friends: a haul of aluminum pull-tabs totaling nearly 80 pounds.
“That works out to be about 100,000 tabs,” Wertheimer said. “Or about 16,666 six-packs.”
Asked how many of the tabs came from soda cans, he smiled and said, “Not very many.”
Sparkling water? Juices? Energy drinks?
“They’re mostly from beer cans,” Wertheimer said.
Regardless of the source, Ronald McDonald House officials were grateful for the donation.
“We typically collect pop tabs,” said Sam Milam, development director for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Colorado. “But this was a really large donation, especially from a single person, and we appreciate that Roger thought of us.”
The family aid nonprofit has been turning “pop tab” donations into funding for more than 20 years through its annual Mountain of Love program, an informal competition that encourages local schools to save the tabs throughout the year. The school with the most tabs is announced each Earth Day.
“Some of the teachers actually work (Mountain of Love) into their curriculum,” Milam said.
The 2023-2024 Mountain of Love winner was Banning Lewis Ranch Academy, which saved and donated a whopping 368 pounds of tabs, Milam said.
The tab from an aluminum can is made of a higher-grade metal than the can itself, she explained. The collections are recycled with a local scrap metal company and turned into cash, which is funneled back into the nonprofit’s family support programs.
“When people hear the name McDonald’s, they assume that the corporation provides most of our funding, but that isn’t true,” Milam said. “The majority of our funds come from corporate donors and generous individuals.”
The primary source of last week’s tab donation was Bill Soux, a friend of Wertheimer’s who resides in Guffey, about 60 miles west of Colorado Springs.
“Bill had been saving these tabs for years, and he mentioned it to my wife,” said Wertheimer, whose wife, Lori, is a pediatrician. “She told him that Ronald McDonald House would be happy to take them off his hands. When I called them and told them what we had, they were delighted.”
“We’re always looking for good causes, and for ways to help,” Soux said. “And, of course, we like beer, so this was an easy way to help.”
Wertheimer had been aware of Ronald McDonald House for years, but he had never visited before, so Milam was more than happy to give him a tour of the facility, which is located near Children’s Hospital Colorado and UCHealth Memorial North. Wertheimer came away impressed with the breadth of services the nonprofit provides for families of sick kids.
“I had no idea that they do so much,” he said after the tour. “We’re happy to be able to support such a good cause.”
Soux, 80, said he and his Guffey friends are currently working on a new tab collection — one beverage at a time.
“Ronald McDonald House does a really great service for families,” he said. “The least we can do for them is drink a few cold beers.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-05 09:45:00
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