Little things mean a lot

Kids would have been flabbergasted had they been in health class the day one teacher walked in carrying a water cooler jug.

This jug did not contain the elixir of life, per se, but perhaps for a family with a cancer patient, it did.

The jug held a total of 16 pounds of aluminum, all in the form of that familiar tab from pop cans. Why would anyone want 16 pounds of pop tabs?

Ask any student at Glen Crest Middle School in Glen Ellyn and they would explain about the big difference these little tabs make in the lives of families in the surrounding areas and beyond.

The idea for a Pop Tab Drive began in November when the Student Union was looking for a project to go "green" in the middle school.

Jake Hume, Student Union president, presented the pop tab idea from his own personal experience. His sister had battled cancer. At Advocate Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, where she was receiving treatment, there was a pop tab drive in operation.

The tabs are used to raise money to build a Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home-away-from-home for the families of patients.

After hearing Hume's suggestion, the Student Union agreed it was a worthy cause and they were ready to go!

Even though the planning for the Pop Tab Drive began in December, it was not launched officially until March, with the final push to the finish in mid-March. Grade levels vied for the ultimate prize -- PJ/DJ Day.

Students of the winning grade were allowed to wear pajama pants for a day and were entertained by a DJ during their lunch period.

There was even more fun planned. Each homeroom was invited to decorate a one-gallon milk jug, which would become the class' official collection container.

The jugs were displayed at a Student Union meeting and one was deemed "most creative" by a panel of staff members. That winning homeroom received an extra amount of tabs toward their grade level total.

The total tabs collected amounted to 187,520, and in pounds equaled 148. Students calculated that by recycling these tabs, enough energy was saved to power all of the TVs in Glen Crest for 160 hours.

The tabs are collected instead of the whole can because they are of higher quality aluminum and they recycle better.

For details on collecting pop tabs, visit www.rmhc.org/giving/ and go to Pop Top Collection, or call Glen Crest at (630) 469-5220.