In order to pull off some hands-on summer learning activities, the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA is collecting bottle caps.
Lots of them.
A whopping 3,200 bottle caps, to be exact.
Gleamer Sullivan, the YMCA staff person in charge of collecting all the goods, believes in the power of hands-on learning for elementary-aged kids.
“Instead of them learning about their local community ecosystem through a worksheet or somebody talking to them, doing something that involves them creating part of the ecosystem allows them to see the big picture and how they interact within it,” Sullivan said. “They become part of their ecosystem – which they are a part of – instead of just being an abstract idea. They can physically see it, and they are making it as the days and weeks go along.”
There is a drop-off box in the Staunton-Augusta Family YMCA lobby.
The YMCA is also collecting:
- Clean plastic laundry detergent bottles with lids attached, if possible (NEED 50)
- Paperboard boxes (cereal, tissue, cracker, tea, butter, toothpaste, tiny boxes, etc.) (NEED 2,700)
- Toilet paper tubes (NEED 1,520)
- Paper towel tubes (NEED 235)
- Clean paperboard cartons (milk, juice, creamer, half & half, etc.) (NEED 660)
- Clean egg cartons (NEED 130)
- Clean lids
- Nature magazines (Does someone you know have National Geographic magazines they want to get rid of?)
- Brown paper bags
- Newspaper
The YMCA is still hoping to collect a lot more items.
“Consider taping the list above your trash can,” Sullivan said. “Before you throw something or recycle it, consider putting it a bag and bringing it to the YMCA.”