Epiphany students collect over 22,000 soda can tabs

Donations benefit Shriner’s Hospital in Tampa.

FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF REPORT

Posted: 07.02.09

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DIOCESE OF VENICE
During the 2008-09 school year, Epiphany Cathedral School students gathered more than 18 pounds worth of soda can pull tabs, or 22,806, which were presented in early June to the Shriners in Sarasota.

VENICE | In an effort to aid an organization known for helping children who are burned, students at Epiphany Cathedral School spent the entire year bringing in their soda can tabs one or two at a time. Those tabs were collected and gathered throughout the year, ultimately totaling more than 18 pounds or 22,806 tabs, which were then brought in mid-June to the Shriners Center in Sarasota.

The collection of the tabs started with the inspiration of middle school language arts teacher Beth Donofrio.

She remembered when she was a teacher 12 years ago a former Epiphany student decided to make an explosion for his G.I. Joe in the woods behind his house. He poured gasoline onto a pile of debris and set it aflame with a match. He was engulfed and suffered third-degree burns all along his back, from his neck down to his ankles.

He spent four months in the Shriners Burn Institute in Cincinnati, recovering from the burns themselves and the resultant skin grafts, eventually returning to school with a sort of “wet suit” designed to protect his new skin.

The vivid memories inspired the teacher, upon her return to the school after spending time raising her own children, to relay the story and encourage each of her students to pull off their soda can tabs and bring them into school. The Shriners collect these tabs, recycle them, and use the money to help fund their hospitals.

“I see kids in every grade approaching Mrs. Donofrio with a single tab or a pocketful they’ve collected from their lunch table,” said Principal Irene Lynch. “Families collect them at home and send them into school in old Pringles containers and baggies of all sizes. It’s nice to know that the part of our mission statement that says ‘building a caring community that serves others’ is not just a rote recitation, but actions that we choose to carry out every day.”

“We collect 800-900 pounds every two to three months,” said Marylou Ellis, the pull tab chairwoman for the Sarasota Shriners. The organization has been collecting the tabs since 1992 and has recycled 60,494 pounds totaling $29,123 for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa. All this money has been donated to the wheelchair repair fund.

Donofrio plans to continue the collection in the 2009-10 school year, encouraging people in the community to bring their soda can tabs into the school in hopes of beating the 18 pounds collected this year. Anyone interested in helping Epiphany Cathedral School can bring their tabs to the school office starting in August, where Donofrio and her classes will have a collection box.

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