Hood River Lions Elaine Johnson and Martha Capovilla work at the sorting table. The Lions apply the money raised to small grants for area nonprofits. Â
Hood River Lions Elaine Johnson and Martha Capovilla work at the sorting table. The Lions apply the money raised to small grants for area nonprofits. Â
It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday or Wednesday morning. Rain or shine, 12 months out of the year, a small group of dedicated Hood River Lions Club members show up at the Hood River Port to sort and recycle three to six days’ worth of recycled beverage bottles and cans from the town.
One or two club trailers, overflowing with bags of mixed bottles and cans, are waiting to be sorted. When the doors swing open, a net prevents loose cans from spilling out onto the ground. Club members scurry around to pull the sorting table and 10 or more giant garbage cans from the 40-foot shipping container that houses equipment and a mountain of already sorted aluminum cans waiting for pickup and recycling.
The sorting begins as one Lion pulls garbage bags of mixed cans and bottles from the trailers, and two Lions rip open bags and dump them onto the table. Hands fly back and forth as three other Lions snatch up glass and plastic bottles, tossing them into separate containers while cans continue down the line to a third container.
When a garbage can is full, it is replaced on the line. Plastic bottles and aluminum cans are taken into the shipping container and dumped into 5-foot-long, clear plastic bags, tied off, and stacked. Glass bottles fill giant 6-feet by 6-feet bins. When the containers are full, it’s off to the recyclers.
An hour and a half later, two trailers are empty and set up, ready to return to the Ace Hardware Parking lot, where once again, Hood River’s faithful recyclers bring their saved beverage containers.
With this single project, the Hood River Lions Club can annually budget $20,000 for nonprofit organizations in the Gorge. These funds come in the form of small grants, generally on the order of $1,000 each. Hood River Lions Club readily welcomes new applications for these small grants, as well as new members, speakers, and interested visitors to our meetings.
Recent donations have gone to Helping Hands, The History Museum of Hood River County, Sunshine Club, Cub Scouts, FISH Food Bank, Hood River Middle School, Next Door Youth Mentoring, and disaster preparation training.
Applications for small grants may be obtained by contacting Hood River Lions Bottles and Cans Coordinator, Ralph Kupersmith, 541-490-1425, or ralphkupersmith@gmail.com.
Inquiries about Lions membership or guest speaker opportunities should go to Hood River Lions Club Membership Coordinator Doug Roof at dwroof17@gmail.com.
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