When Barb Rickards, a Regional Food Distribution Association (RFDA) volunteer, watched empty beer cans being tossed in the rubbish at the Fort William Gardens in 2019, she began a fundraising journey that would take six years to reach her goal.
This month, Rickards has successfully raised $10,000 from collecting empty beer and cooler cans and bottles for the RFDA. That $10,000 equates to 100,000 empty cans and bottles collected through the entire initiative.
The first restaurant to jumped to the occasion was The Neebing Roadhouse.
“And they have been contributing since day one in 2019, she said. “I called the owner of the Neebing Roadhouse and I told him that I’d reached my 10,000 goal and that I was finished. Then I asked him if he would consider continuing to donate the empty cans for another worthy organization.”
With limited staff to dispose of empty cans, the owner was more than happy to continue and will now hand over the empties to the Murillo Mutts Respite Refuge.
Over the six years, Rickards onboarded more than 50 regular donors who either gave her their collected empties or the money they received from cashing in their empties.
“I have donors from the Castlegreen Co-op in the north ward, donors from Twin City Crossroads and I get people out by the Neebing Restaurant,” she said. “They just call us and we’ll pick them up and a lot of them know my routine.”
Each time Rickards reached a $1,000 milestone, she would present 10 crisp $100 bills to Volker Kromm, executive director of the RFDA.
“He calls me the Beer Lady and I told him, ‘Surely to God, you can think of something a little more attractive,” Rickards laughed.
“She’s amazing. Barb is one of my big volunteer champions,” said Kromm. “She had a goal, and there’s never a beer can or a wine bottle that is safe with Barbara around. That woman is relentless. We appreciate her effort, and I just love her tenacity. ”
Kromm said all the funds raised by Rickards pays for operational things that the RFDA can’t afford.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as water, and sometimes it’s just some of the condiments and some of the extras that go into the meals that go to Shelter House and the Dew Drop Inn,” he said. “That money gets put to work right away, feeding many people and we’re very fortunate to have had Barb do this.”
Meanwhile, Rickards will continue to collect clean empties from her donors and will redirect the funds. She stressed how important it is for the cans and bottles to be empty and clean.
“I’m going to continue and I’m only selecting clean cans and all my donors know that, ” she said. “I’m now going to donate the collected empties to a pet rescue, beginning with Murillo Mutts. I’ve already given them $100 and I’ve got another $100 coming, and then I might just donate some to the Humane Society and some cat shelters to share the wealth.”
To donate your clean empty cans, email rickardsred@shaw.ca.
