By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Most people have one thing in mind when they pull a tab from a soft drink can: toss it in the nearest trash can.
Charles Rhea of Hartselle has a better idea. Put it in your pocket or purse and donate it and others you collect to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama. He’ll even come by and collect the tabs you’ve collected and transport them to the Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham. From there they will be sold to a recycler and the proceeds will be used to provide lodging for needy families with sick children.
Included in that group are members of Rhea’s Sunday school class at East Highland Baptist Church.
The Royal Ambassadors at East Highland are also supporting the program, as are students at Hartselle Junior High School.
Rhea’s latest delivery of tabs totaled about 325 pounds. The money generated from their sale will house a family for four or five nights at the Ronald McDonald House.
The tabs command a higher price that the market price for aluminum scrap because they are more easily transported to the recycling center, are smaller, neater, cleaner and easier to store. Tabs from soda cans, vegetable and soup cans and pet food cars are acceptable.
Rhea said the potential for support of the Pop Tab program in the Hartselle area is tremendous and he’d like to do more to help. Any school, church or community organization or individual interested in participating is invited to contact Rhea at 773-4097.