SCOUTS CAN
A Connecticut Yankee Council /
Habitat for Humanity Partnership
Habitat for Humanity Partnership
Collecting and Redeeming Deposit Items...and Other Ways to Fundraise, Too
Collecting Deposit Cans and
Bottles...
...is straightforward, but here are some tips for streamlining the process:
1. Centralized Collection.
3. Scout Stake-Out. Arrange with your local supermarket for uniformed Scouts to “man” the “reverse-vending” machines on a certain day or week. Scouts volunteer to redeem customer bottles in exchange for the machine “chit,” to be donated to the Scouts CAN program.
4. Tag and Bag.Hold a “Tag and Bag” event.
Scouts put door-hangers (available from Yankee Council) on neighborhood
doorknobs, returning on certain date to pick up bags of deposit items.
5. Friends & Family. Send a blast e-mail to your e-dress book, asking recipients to save deposit items for later collection.
6. Scouts CAN Do It! Have a "CAN-test!" Use your own local initiative and resources, and make the process fun!
...is straightforward, but here are some tips for streamlining the process:
1. Centralized Collection.
- Ask your local transfer station if you can set up large collection boxes. Chris Goodrich can describe what has worked in Newtown.
- Organize a monthly or quarterly can-and-bottle drive through your church, school, civic organization, workplace, etc.
- Build "Can Cottages" -- for outdoor use, to be placed, with permission, along well-traveled roads, outside town
offices, at Habitat worksites, etc.
3. Scout Stake-Out. Arrange with your local supermarket for uniformed Scouts to “man” the “reverse-vending” machines on a certain day or week. Scouts volunteer to redeem customer bottles in exchange for the machine “chit,” to be donated to the Scouts CAN program.
4. Tag and Bag.Hold a “Tag and Bag” event.
Scouts put door-hangers (available from Yankee Council) on neighborhood
doorknobs, returning on certain date to pick up bags of deposit items.5. Friends & Family. Send a blast e-mail to your e-dress book, asking recipients to save deposit items for later collection.
6. Scouts CAN Do It! Have a "CAN-test!" Use your own local initiative and resources, and make the process fun!
- Create "Kick the Can" soccer games, or "basket-can" games, at county fairs, collection drives, Halloween fairs, etc.
- Ask vendors, grocery stores to match your deposit "chits"
- Partner with local sports teams, suggesting spectators bring empty cans to the game
- Compete among units to bring in the most deposit items
- Try to break the Guinness Book of World Records mark for recycling aluminum cans in an 8-hour period.
- Do not crush items – the bar code must be readable
- Glass is fully redeemable only in original cartons or cases. Otherwise, it’s scrap glass worth 3 cents apiece
- Unrinsed containers can attract insects and mice.
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Redeem Deposit Cans and Bottles...
Redeem Deposit Cans and Bottles...- One by one at reverse-vending machines at grocery stores, Costco, Wal-Mart, etc.
- In bulk during a local Scout can-and-bottle drive
- In
bulk at participating transfer station, as in
- In
bulk at MLI Redemption in
- For scrap-metal cash value, if you can't redeem.
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Other Ways to Raise Funds -- Stud Signing
A very effective fund-raiser is a “stud signing,” when Scouts “sell” signatures on 2x4 studs to be installed in local Habitat houses. The names of donors – who pay $10 a signature, or $25 to “buy” an entire stud for their family, organization etc. – not only become a permanent part of a home, but may be memorialized in photographs (before the studs are covered with wallboard).
Tips:
1.
Hold the signing in a high-traffic area – a mall parking lot, a church on Sunday, a school, a festival, a county fair, etc. Wal-Mart and other chain stores often cooperate.
2. Promote! Start pushing the event at least a month in advance in church bulletins, the local newspaper, local radio, relevant websites, etc.
3. Ask a local lumberyard to donate studs.
4. Use framing studs -- "pre-cuts" – rather than eight-footers, as pre-cuts are more useful on Habitat jobsites.
5. Use chisel-tip, permanent markers – they’re more visible, work on wood, and not messy.
6.
Build an A-frame sign (scrap studs, plywood) to define the signing area.
7. “Market” the stud-signing to kids, especially – they love signing their names, and parents like to encourage community involvement.
8. If you get few signers at $10, go humorous. Put up a sign saying, “Today Only! $5 a signature!! Two for $9!”
9. Build a stud “knee wall” and hang photos on it of a local Habitat build site, flyers about a Habitat family
10. Can-oriented graphics can be downloaded from the www.cansforhabitat.org.
11. The Cans for Habitat program makes signs and posters available for fund-raising events. Contact Chris Goodrich to procure promotional material.
Other Ways to Raise Funds -- Stud Signing
A very effective fund-raiser is a “stud signing,” when Scouts “sell” signatures on 2x4 studs to be installed in local Habitat houses. The names of donors – who pay $10 a signature, or $25 to “buy” an entire stud for their family, organization etc. – not only become a permanent part of a home, but may be memorialized in photographs (before the studs are covered with wallboard).Tips:
1.
Hold the signing in a high-traffic area – a mall parking lot, a church on Sunday, a school, a festival, a county fair, etc. Wal-Mart and other chain stores often cooperate.2. Promote! Start pushing the event at least a month in advance in church bulletins, the local newspaper, local radio, relevant websites, etc.
3. Ask a local lumberyard to donate studs.
4. Use framing studs -- "pre-cuts" – rather than eight-footers, as pre-cuts are more useful on Habitat jobsites.
5. Use chisel-tip, permanent markers – they’re more visible, work on wood, and not messy.
6.
Build an A-frame sign (scrap studs, plywood) to define the signing area.7. “Market” the stud-signing to kids, especially – they love signing their names, and parents like to encourage community involvement.
8. If you get few signers at $10, go humorous. Put up a sign saying, “Today Only! $5 a signature!! Two for $9!”
9. Build a stud “knee wall” and hang photos on it of a local Habitat build site, flyers about a Habitat family
10. Can-oriented graphics can be downloaded from the www.cansforhabitat.org.
11. The Cans for Habitat program makes signs and posters available for fund-raising events. Contact Chris Goodrich to procure promotional material.
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