The Waupaca Breakfast Rotary Club is raising money for Riverview Park by recycling aluminum cans.
The kickoff for the fundraising project – “Rotary, Recycling, Riverview” – took place on Aug. 31 during the club’s meeting.
“We decided that a great way to raise money for Riverview Park is to recycle, to get the whole community involved. It is their park,” Terri Schulz said. “We have asked a couple businesses to put large recycling bins at their businesses.”
Bins are located at Waupaca Mobil Travel Center and East Side Mobil Express. There are also plans to put a bin at Waupaca High School.
Schulz, who along with Bill Lipschultz is chairing the project, said the idea is that members of the community can donate their aluminum cans to the Rotary, with the club then turning the cans into cash for park improvements.
Alter Metals will pick up the cans and keep a tally of what the club earns, she said.
The cans do not have to be crushed.
It would also be great, Schulz said, if businesses put bins for aluminum cans in their businesses and then donated them to the Rotary’s project.
“We will have to do a lot of word of mouth to promote it,” he said. “If you have friends in the restaurant business or bars, we appreciate if they could save cans for the Rotary fundraiser.”
If someone does not want to drop off the cans, a Rotarian will pick them up.
Schulz said plans call for the project to take place for the next six months.
“Then, we will see where we are, if we have met our goal,” she said.
The club has committed to raising between $13,000 and $14,000 for improvements at the park.
Henry Veleker, who is the club’s president, believes they have raised about $10,000 thus far.
“We’re moving ahead really well,” he said. “From the city’s perspective, we get a lot of interest in the park now.”
The newest additions to the park include a shelter and bathroom facilities. Benches and signage will also be added.
Plans call for the city to cover the annual operating costs of the park. There is talk of the club adopting the park and then having clean-up days there a couple times a year.
The club kicked off its campaign last week and invites community members to drop off their cans from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 10 at the Waupaca Mobil Travel Center.
“We will rotate each month to draw people to where the sites are. We will be doing this the same Saturday each month,” Lipschultz said.