LITTLE CURRENT—Kevin Hutchinson has a lot of hobbies—too many, he jokes—and most involve being outdoors, but one of his favourite hobbies, collecting the pull tabs from aluminum cans to support the hospice in Sudbury, has a very special meaning for him.
Mr. Hutchinson began collecting the tabs for wheelchairs, but he decided to switch to supporting the Sudbury hospice. “I am collecting them in memory of George Hagen, he taught me trapping and stuff,” said Mr. Hutchinson. “He was in the hospice in Sudbury.”
Mr. Hutchinson said that he had told his friend what he was doing even before Mr. Hagen wound up in the hospice himself. “I told him what I was going to do even before he got sick, and he thought it was a great idea and suggested we get the fish and game clubs involved,” recalled Mr. Hutchinson. “But by the time we had got started, George got sick and wound up in the hospice himself.”
“A lot of people don’t know this, but the hospice in Sudbury is not ‘funded,’ they rely on fundraising,” he said. “I was just reading in the paper that the folks there depend on the food bank.”
The Hutchinson garage on Loon Trail, located to the right just off the road into Harbour Vue Marina, is home to a very large collection of bags filled with aluminum can tabs. So how many does he have right now?
“Okay, a five-gallon pail is 25,760 and I have 10 of those, so I have 257,000 right there,” he said. “I was reading online the other day that they say it takes about a million to buy a wheelchair—so I am a quarter of the way there—that’s not too bad.” That’s over 151 pounds.
Of course, Mr. Hutchinson and his family don’t personally guzzle that much pop and other beverages. “No, no,” he laughs. “I have a lot of people collecting them for me. People give me a handful, people give me a bag or half a pail. I take them all.” When he is at a party or other gathering, Mr. Hutchinson often suggests people collect the tabs.
Mr. Hutchinson referenced Greg Young in Wiikwemkoong as one of his most prolific suppliers. “He has been really good; we have done some trading in trapping equipment and we have been doing this with the trapping council.”
Although the pop/beer cans can be traded in for cash, Mr. Hutchinson says he is basically only interested in collecting the tabs as they are pure aluminum. “I don’t want cans, no,” he said. The aluminum in the tabs is pure, explains Mr. Hutchinson, and therefore commands top dollar. Cans themselves are painted and are a lower grade commanding a lower price at the recycling centre.
But he notes that his campaign works in compliment with other organizations who do utilize cans as a fundraiser. “The tabs are small and easy to collect; you can pop a bunch of them into your pocket pretty easy,” said Mr. Hutchinson. “Pop cans can take up a lot of room.”
“Minor hockey in Gore Bay collects cans as a fundraiser, for example,” he said. “They collect the cans and have supplied me with a lot of tabs.”
Some tabs themselves are painted. Mr. Hutchinson holds up a hefty bag filled with red-tinged tabs. “I sort them out,” he explained. Those tabs will not go to waste, just bring in a little less lucre.
Maison McCulloch Hospice in Sudbury is a one-level, free-standing building which provides 10 rooms with beds and individual bathrooms for residents that would benefit from a palliative approach to care. The unique architecture of the hospice provides a residence which looks and feels like home rather than an acute or long-term care facility and provides individuals with privacy—while still providing open access to common spaces so residents can interact with each other and service providers. The building is fully accessible and includes the technology, equipment and supplies to provide quality 24/7 palliative care.
“They are really wonderful people there,” said Mr. Hutchinson.
Mr. Hutchinson said that he was open to having people drop off tabs to his place at 62 Loon Trail in Little Current, or he could come pick them up.
