Haley Bradley was a fifth grader when she began collecting aluminum pop tabs in her Stevensville, MI neighborhood, motivated by wanting to help her uncle, Pat Conlin, who had just been diagnosed with brain cancer. While Conlin was undergoing treatment at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, his family, including Haley’s mother, Laura, Conlin’s sister, were able to stay nearby at the Ronald McDonald House in Maywood, Il.
Although Conlin eventually lost his battle with cancer, Haley is continuing with the pop tab fund-raising project for the Maywood Ronald McDonald House with the help of her parents, students at Stevensville’s Lakeshore Public Schools, the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Dept., where her father, Mike, is a captain.
Now a 20-year old junior at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Haley has won the distinction of being the largest single contributor of the 1-inch long metal rings to the Maywood facility. In 11 years she has donated nearly 6,000 pop tabs, worth approximately $3,600.
“There’s no question that Haley holds the record for donations as a student,” said Maywood RMH manager Andrea Wadas, adding, “it’s unusual for someone so young to be as consistent as she has been over the years and to show such true passion.”
Why Pop Tabs?
According to Wadas, a recycler buys the aluminum rings found on beverage, soup and other containers for between 55 and 65 cents per pound. The tabs are valued because they are made of pure, high-quality aluminum, unlike the cans they come from, which contain alloys.
The aluminum tabs are also smaller and cleaner than collecting cans, easier to handle in large volumes and don’t interfere with other can recycling programs benefiting the charity.
“Matched by a donor, the contribution of pop tabs from Haley and others brings in over $20,000 in revenue for us each year to help offset our operating costs,” Wadas says, adding that the Maywood Ronald McDonald House, which opened in 1995, offers accommodations to families of children either hospitalized or receiving out-patient care at a cost of $5 per night.
Something So Simple
“I started doing this because I wanted to do something to help my Uncle Pat,” said Haley, adding that the eight-year experience has encouraged her to become more outspoken in public, especially about cancer risks, since so many members of her family have died from the disease.
“I just want people to know how doing something so simple, like donating pop tabs, can make a real difference in the lives of so many people.”
There are 272 RMHs worldwide, and a good many of the 160 Ronald McDonald Houses in the United States participate in the “Ronald McDonald House Pop Tab Collection Program,” Wadas says. She suggested contacting a local Ronald McDonald House to see if they participate.
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