Green campers help a worthy cause

The campers at  the Wellness Athletics Value Excellence (W.A.V.E.) Summer Camp are regular kids who got hit by a green wave. This year, about 100 children are spending their summer recycling cans for a good cause. They recycle aluminum soda cans and pop tops daily at McKinney Park, where they have lunch and play. After a fun day at the park, children put the trash in the recycling bins at the St. Pete Beach Community Center. Games and having fun are part of the experience, says camp counselor Lynn Barber. The social sciences teacher from Boca Ciega High School has been working at the camp for 22 years, but he never thought about pulling tabs off the cans before, he says.  That was 11-year-old Hailey Vaughan’s idea. She says she saw trash-filled cans one day while playing in the park with her friend, Alexis. She knew about a recycling program at her school, Gulf Beaches Elementary, and realized that “pop tops are 15 minutes for a child to get chemotherapy.” So she and Lynn Barber developed a recycling plan, asking other children for ideas along the way. “There are a lot of kids with cancer,” Hailey says. “If we can help in any way, why not do it?” Her family is helping her achieve her goals. They got involved in recycling, they reuse water bottles and refill them using filtered water from the sink. They recycle paper and they use the air conditioning system less. A documentary on recycling she saw six months ago got Vaughn even more interested in saving nature, she says. “I want to help others and save the planet. If I wouldn’t do it, I would be sitting at home doing nothing,” she adds. “If you do good things, maybe it would rub off on other people and they would start to recycle and help the planet.” She says she tries to come to the camp every year. This year, she is a happy camper because all her friends are at this camp, and all of them are involved in recycling to save more lives. This

project should involve the whole community, she says. “I wish more people would do it but some people just sit back and let other people do it. If more people would join in, we wouldn’t have this big problem,” Hailey said. She is already thinking about her next project. “After this project, I want to plant more trees because more trees would bring in more oxygen,” she said. Now campers have buckets full of tabs and many more to come, says camp counselor Lynn Barber. His motto, “saving a kid one tap at the time,” got the kids motivated to join the project. “We started to green up the city a little bit by not throwing this garbage away,” Barber said. Most of them recycle, teach their friends to recycle and involve their families in their green projects. “We have collected already a couple of hundred taps since we started three weeks ago,” he said. What all the recycling is for “We plan to make one large contribution to the McDonald House,” Barber said. “The children were very receptive to it from the beginning, and we don’t have to remind them about recycling for a good cause.” So the project is not only helping the environment, it also may save lives because the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay uses these funds for chemotherapy sessions for children battling cancer. This organization becomes home and lifeline for parents whose children are being treated at hospitals. Alison Barrick, a spokesperson for the Ronald McDonald House Tampa Bay Charities, says that the recycling project is for a worthy cause. “It is a lot of work for a little gain,” she said. “It takes many tabs to make a pound of aluminum, but it is something everybody can do. And it still benefits the Ronald McDonald House.” Those would like to participate in this program can bring the pop taps at a Ronald McDonald House or to the nearest recycling partner. For a list of partners, go to http://www.rmhctampabay.com  

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Green campers help a worthy cause

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