The Petrolia Scouts are going to help the planet and raise a little money at the same time.
Kelly Currie, the 1st Scout’s Club Registrar was trying to come up with ideas to raise money to help offset the cost for several Scouts to go to Camp Tamaracouta, Quebec this summer. Her husband came home one day after dropping off the family’s E-Waste with a bit of extra money in his pocket. The company, Premier Recycling had paid for the goods.
That gave Currie the idea to collect E-Waste and sell it to the company as a fundraiser.
So on the weekend of Petrolia’s Yard Sales – April 29 and 30 – a big dumpster from the recycler will be at the Scout Hall on School Street (off Greenfield) for anyone who wants to get rid of their E-Waste.
Currie says she liked the idea for a number of reasons, including getting the 15 or so members of the Scouts in on the work; they’ll be helping patrons bring their waste to the dumpster.
“I kind of like the idea of the Scouts earning their way,” she says adding, “this is what Scouting is about; helping the environment and helping our world.”
The depot will be open on Saturday and Sunday and will accept everything from old computers, answering machines, cassette players, printers, cameras, cell phones, keyboards and accessories, fax machines, mobile devices, radios, speakers, telephones and even electric typewriters.
Currie isn’t sure how much they can raise with the event but adds another local charity is watching the experiment closely because it is considering offering the service as a fundraiser as well.
She’s just hopeful enough money will be raised to help some kids go to camp.
“Transportation costs are rising and that is making it more difficult for families to send their kids,” she says.
“We want to help out as much as we can. We want to offset the cost as much as we can.”