Exchange Club turns recycled cans into cash for programs

Four big, blue “Cans for Kids” bins in Merrimack are collectors for donated aluminum cans earmarked for recycling by the Exchange Club of Merrimack. The local chapter is part of a national, nonprofit group supporting programs aimed at child abuse prevention, crime prevention, services to senior citizens and other causes.

The bins are sheltered with sturdy, volunteer-built structures measuring 4 feet by 8 feet, with an attached roof protecting the cache of used, aluminum beverage cans. Each of the sheds bears the words “Cans for Kids,” and donations are retrieved regularly by volunteers from the Exchange Club.

Organizers of the collection are urging people to donate aluminum cans at any of the four pick-up sites – the Merrimack Library, 470 Daniel Webster Highway; the Merrimack Fire Department, 196 Naticook Road; the Merrimack Department of Public Works, 80 Turkey Hill Road; or the former Zyla’s property at 580 Daniel Webster Highway.

Four of the eight Exchange Club members recently picked up the can collection. Wielding shovels with gusto were Sally Kinny, the club’s current president; Ted Parmenter, can recycling chairman; Ed Smith, recycling volunteer; and John Grady, a charter member and past president of the club.

Kinny, a retired teacher with 23 years of experience, knows how fast aluminum cans accumulate at school, at the workplace or at home.

“Recycling the cans helps the club to raise funds that support three food pantries in town and also contribute to other programs,” Kinny said.

She said the club has many activities. For instance, it offers scholarship funds to high school seniors recommended by their guidance counselors as volunteering for community service or having an array of school activities. A student of the month program, conducted from October to March, rewards those recognized as appropriate candidates.

“These are really hard-working kids who deserve the recognition,” Kinny said. “They are service oriented. We try hard to recognize them.”

She and John Grady, a charter member who said the club in Merrimack was established in 1984, agreed that the Exchange Club is one with a multitude of goals. The group recognizes local unsung heroes with a “Book of Golden Deeds Award.”

Each year, the club presents a college scholarship to a senior at Merrimack High School. There is a fund for children who have been removed from their homes due to suspected or proven abuse.

Grady, a former principal in Nashua, has 37 years in education. He and his wife, Brenda, an avid photographer, have two grown daughters who have often participated in a club-sponsored program that funds the distribution of American flags to parade spectators on Independence Day. A shrinking budget has forestalled that program, but others continue.

“We contribute Thanksgiving basket funds to supplement programs sponsored by local groups that help people during the holidays,” Grady said. “There is always a need.”

Ed Smith, a Merrimack resident for 24 years, is a retired engineer who has been a part of the club for about 15 years. He enjoys volunteering and said he finds the Exchange Club offers many opportunities to make a positive impact in the community.

“I get the joy of being able to do something worthwhile,” Smith said. “It’s a pleasure to do something for the students, the food pantry – the people in the community.”

Ted Parmenter, a resident of Merrimack for 34 years, is the club’s can recycling chairman. Parmenter and his wife, Marcia, read long ago about recycling as a way to raise funds. He has found it an ideal method to supplement the club’s ongoing programs.

“We decided to give it a shot in the early ’90s – long before recycling was popular,” Parmenter said. “The first collection shed was built with wood from old pallets, all recycled materials. Businesses including Irish Insurance and Reeds Ferry Lumber helped. Anheuser Busch donated the big, blue bins we use. They hold maybe 50 pounds of cans.”

Manchester Recycling, a local private company, weighs the cans and credits the funds to the Exchange Club’s account. When all the bins are emptied into a trailer until filled to capacity, the recycling company hauls the unit away and leaves an empty one in its place.

Parmenter said over the years the price of recycled aluminum has fluctuated.

In the past, the cans were much thicker and weighed more than today’s thin-walled, lightweight versions. Nevertheless, the pennies accumulate. He recalls a low of 19 cents per pound and a high of 44 cents. It all adds up, he said.

The volunteers agree their job of collecting used, aluminum beverage cans – ABCs, they call them – could be made easier. The club asks can donors to do the to following:

¦ Donate only aluminum beverage cans.

¦ No glass or plastic is acceptable.

¦ Emptying the cans from a carry-bag into the bin is good manners.

¦ Take the tote with you.

Grady said that in the past six months, the group has encountered a problem with thieves. He called the occurrences “frustrating” and said club members usually work in teams when doing pickups; not alone, or at night.

“Basically, it’s stealing,” Grady said. “It’s stealing from charity – from kids.”

Those interested in the Exchange Club of Merrimack are invited to attend its dinner meetings held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Jade Dragon, at 515 Daniel Webster Highway, in The Commons shopping center.