Pop tab collection helps Ronald McDonald House

Erica Smith, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·3 min read

May 1—Amy Dennis teared up Thursday as her family donated 97.23 pounds of pop tabs — about 116,676 tabs — at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama's collection site in Decatur.

Ten years ago, she and her husband stayed in the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham when their daughter was born prematurely.

"We know what it's like to be there and how much it costs (for the charity to operate it)," Amy, 39, said. "Now we like to give back."

Amy and her husband, Jonathan Dennis, 40, stayed in the Ronald McDonald House for 50 days when their daughter, Randa, now 10, was born at 28 weeks. The family is from Fort Payne.

"If it wasn't for (Ronald McDonald House), I don't know what we would have done," Jonathan said. "It was 175 miles from our house."

Stephanie Langford, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama marketing and communications director, said the donated pop tabs are recycled for money. Funds then go towards the Ronald McDonald House which is for families needing a place to stay during their child's medical treatment at the Children's of Alabama hospital in Birmingham.

There are three collection sites in Alabama annually, Langford said, with Decatur getting more donations than Birmingham and Montgomery every year. Langford said 1,837.4 pounds of pop tabs were collected in Decatur on Thursday.

The Decatur collection site was at McDonald's on the corner of Beltline and Danville roads Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"A lot of the families here in this area, they stay at our House," Langford said. "We always have great reception out here because these kids understand what it's like to be away from home. Having these pop-ups throughout the state helps the community get involved and find their way to help."

Langford said usually they collect over a thousand pounds in Decatur each year. She said the price of aluminum fluctuates but the Decatur collection usually generates about $1,000.

Josey Hendrix, 11, and Emerson Weinman, 10, are both in the fifth grade at Eastwood Elementary School and, along with classmates, donated 113.43 pounds from the school. There are about 1,200 pop tabs per pound, according to Ronald McDonald House Charities, so Eastwood's donation came to about 136,116 pop tabs.

Hendrix said it was important to her to donate tabs "because it helps people that are at the Ronald McDonald House that maybe can't do things that we can do."

Hendrix said she brought a few gallon-size Ziploc bags full of tabs to donate that she had been saving all year.

Weinman said it is important to her to donate tabs "because it goes to the Ronald McDonald House, and you can make things for the children there that are sick or have cancer."

Weinman said she had been saving tabs for a year and donated a few 2-liter bottles full of tabs.

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.