Ridge man's humble efforts bring donations for dialysis

Ridge man's humble efforts bring donations for dialysis

By MARY NUGENT - Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/08/2008 12:00:00 AM PST

PARADISE — It's not a hobby, and it's not a job, either. As far as Joe Church is concerned, there's nothing heroic about it.

"It's worthwhile. That's what it is. It's a learning experience," said Church, 83, surveying the 101,000 pull tabs neatly bagged on his back porch.

In 14 years, the retired U.S. Forest Service worker has coordinated the collection of 3,166,650 aluminum pull tabs — or "pop top tabs," as he calls them. In 2007 alone, he collected a half million.

"Three million pop tops are recognized as a ton," he said.

The ongoing, massive collection has a purpose. Church takes them to an elementary school in Fort Jones, where a teacher leads a collection campaign. From there the tabs go to a kidney dialysis clinic through the National Kidney Foundation in Medford, Ore.

Aluminum tabs are recycled, and the money helps with the cost of dialysis treatment, he said.

The project began for Church in 1994, when he was visiting a relative in Oregon. "He had a coffee cup full of pop tops so I asked him about it. He said he'd been collecting them for 30 years for this purpose."

Church joined he effort. "I collect them, pick them up everywhere," he said.

Through the years he has recruited countless people, including retired foresters through National Active and Retired Federal Employees, Paradise Ridge Senior Center, the Brummett family, and the late Don Wolf, who owned Wolf Truck and Auto Repair in Chico.

Church has received pull tabs from Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix, Ariz. and Los Angeles. "The majority are from people I know here in Paradise."

So does Church know for sure he has collected more than 3 million tabs by counting each one?

"People have asked me that. No one ever believes I count every one, because I don't. I fill this old Foster Freeze cup, it's 7 inches tall, and it holds 1,000 tabs. I measure it that way and dump them into plastic sacks."

In each sack, he includes a piece of paper with the names of groups or individuals who donated pop tops. "Other people deserve credit for this. It has come to a large number of cooperative people."

He said Chico Bass Club gave him a giant donation. "They showed up in a panel truck — I said, holy jumpin' jiminy. That's a lot of pop tops. It's my calculation their donation was 360 pounds, or 540,000 pop tops."

Sometimes, donations of pull tabs come with a bonus or two. "There's a treasure now and then — I've probably gotten $7 or $8 in change over time. One of the last ones, I found four quarters and an Eisenhower dollar. There have been rings, nails, screws, thumbtacks, paper clips."

Church uses a bathroom scale to check the weight, and said 1,500 tabs weigh a pound.

On his back porch, Church has 101,000 tabs bagged and ready to take to Oregon. His wife of 35 years, Jinny, has always helped him.

"Oh, he likes it. It's fun. It's an easy thing to do and we can do it together," she said.

Church estimates the more than 3 million tabs he has delivered to Oregon have totaled $3,500 toward dialysis. "Can you imagine getting that much for recycling? I deliver them, I'm the conduit. I'm sure people all over the country are doing this. The way things have gone since I started, my activity is three or four hairs on a dog," he said.

Church isn't actively looking for donations of more pull tabs, but believes any effort is worth it. "Whether it's one pop top or a million, it's a win-win situation," he said.

Call Church at 877-2561.

Staff writer Mary Nugent can be reached at 896-7764 or mnugent@chicoer.com.

http://www.chicoer.com/lifestyle/ci_8497843