Volunteerism and causes are close to my heart, and spur on my resolve.
Collecting aluminum can tabs to be turned into cash to be donated to further research to end childhood cancer. It is a seemingly-simple and worthwhile initiative to get onboard with.
Open the can, drink the contents, remove the tab, put the can in the recycling bin, find a container to store the tabs, and good to go.
I don’t usually find myself drinking from a can in the same spot twice in a row. I may be found anywhere, from my office desk, to a back country road deep in the Assiniboine Valley, snapping open a can and sipping the contents.
At first, my thought process directed me to open the can, remove the tab at once and place said amazingly small and light item into my pocket. Score!
No score. The fluid doesn’t sip right without the tab in place. Calling all nuclear physicists, please explain that to me.
Keeping a plastic bag in a pocket is hit-and-miss with me. I need tissues. I just need tissues. Tissues are multi-taskers for a woman/mom/grandmother/sinus sufferer. Therefore my pockets are usually stuffed with tissues instead of plastic bags which take up a lot of room without the multi-tasking capabilities.
Saving the cans, separating and saving the tabs, remembering which pocket has the tabs, wondering if one remembered to remove the tab after sipping, realising just how many cans one would have to sip from just to assemble a modest pile of tabs, a pile which seems to never grow no matter how often you fling a tab into the container.
To be very honest, my tab collection efforts to date have been dismal.
But the concept of “turning silver to gold” has captured the minds and hearts of a local company, EcoGenX of Canora, which has implemented its “Silver for Gold” program. Dallon Leger, who started the company in 2017, created the charity program. “We collect aluminum can tabs and donate the money to childhood cancer research.”
There is an annual collection day held in Saskatoon, and this year they collected four million tabs which were then sold. The details of the program may be found on their website at www.silverforgold.com, and 100 per cent of the money is “donated to help families in Saskatchewan who are going through this battle.”
I want to do my part, but I realize I need help. My efforts will not amount to a “pile of silver;” maybe a handful by the end of the year, and I am being optimistic.
I am putting out a call to members of the community, especially youngsters who are good at collecting things.
Seize those aluminum tabs, save them, send them to Canora. This is a worthwhile effort.
Let us all join the likes of young Sophia Hvidston of Canora, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age three, now age eight, having been declared in remission over two years ago. This fall she had collected 170 pounds of aluminum can tabs for the Silver for Gold initiative to help raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.
Kamsack and area, let's pitch (the tabs) in (to a collection container) and donate to this program.
