Last chance help a neighborhood by donating cans

Gather up your deposit-return cans and bottles. We’ll tell you where to take them on Sunday, November 17 – to help support the Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood Association …

Powellhurst-Gilbert neighbor Jeff Bayer brings in a load of deposit-return cans and bottles to help fund projects by his neighborhood association.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Thus Sunday, volunteers for the Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood Association will be holding their last can drive of the season.

“It’s been a good season,” said organizer Thomas Barnes. “Because of the typically bad winter weather, this is our last can drive until spring.”

The bottle-and-can drive’s organizer, Thomas Barnes, empties another load of deposit-return cans he’ll redeem on behalf of the neighborhood association.

They hope neighbors will keep them in mind, Barnes told East Portland News. “This year we used some of the funding to help support our National Night Out celebration – along with City of Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) East Portland Neighborhood Small Grant proceeds.

“That is our neighborhood’s big event; and it’s a tremendous success when it comes to bringing our diverse neighbors together,” Barnes explained. “But next year, because the City cut that program, our bottle-and-can drive will be the primary way we fund this project.”

The money collected also helps buy supplies for their ongoing graffiti-cleanup projects, restoration of the Springwater Corridor Trail, and their Adopt-a-Drain projects. “Next year, our funds will be spread really thin, so we’ll need all the bottles and cans we can possibly get!”

Donna Dionne, a Rockwood Neighborhood resident, and Tom Lewis, Chair of Centennial Community Association, sort bottles and cans at a recent drive.

They’re also collecting Coca-Cola product bottle caps, which have code numbers, in separate boxes for Powellhurst-Gilbert Elementary Schools.

Look for them, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., in the Sears parking lot at 2626 SE 122nd Avenue (just south of Pizza Baron) – and bring them a load of deposit-return bottles and cans (those are the containers with a 5-cent deposit). For more information, contact Tom Barnes by email at omdy12@gmail.com, or see the PGNA Website: CLICK HERE.

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