21 Jul Goodbye Pop Tabs

Posted at 20:00h in News by

As our Spoonful of Hope and Lunches with Love programs grow, we’re constantly evaluating how to best serve our families. As we refine our efforts, we’re prioritizing programs that have a high impact on families with sick children. Because of this, we have made the decision to retire our pop tab program starting January 1st, 2025. We will be accepting pop tab donations until December 31st, 2024.

We understand that many have enjoyed collecting tabs over the years and that this has been a beloved fundraiser for our community. We are incredibly grateful for your longstanding dedication to this program and we hope that you’ll explore other ways to continue your support of vital initiatives to help families in need.

Here’s why we’re making this change:

  • Space for Programs: Pop tabs take up a lot of space! To better support our meal programs and families staying at the House, we’re dedicating the physical work space in the commercial kitchen previously used for pop tabs to support vital food initiatives. This dedicated kitchen space will allow us to expand our programs and provide more families with nutritious meals.
  • Financial Stability: While pop tab collection has been a wonderful community effort, over the past 10 years, we have seen a 300% decrease in funding from this program. Now, the program’s costs outweigh the benefits. Aluminum recycling prices are determined by the market, and unfortunately, they’ve been steadily declining over the years.
  • Volunteer Time: We strive to have a top-notch volunteer program and sorting and recycling pop tabs requires a significant time commitment that could be better directed towards our other vital programs and operations. Creating meaningful and impactful volunteer opportunities allows our volunteer program to thrive and we have found that the pop tab program no longer meets those expectations.
  • Cost of Program: Just like any fundraising program, there are operational expenses associated with recycling pop tabs. Things like gas, staff time, and volunteer time, which is valued at about $33 an hour, all add up. These expenses now far outweigh the average amount collected for the pop tabs.

What you can do:

  • Last Call for Pop Tabs: To ensure a smooth transition, we’ll be accepting pop tab donations until the end of the year. This gives you time to wrap up any fundraisers and drop off your collected tabs. You can bring them to 1901 Rockland Rd., Wilmington, DE 19803 any day between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
  • Spread the Word: We kindly ask you to share this information with anyone in your organizations and communities who have generously supported our pop tab initiative.
  • You Can Still Make a Difference: We have other exciting ways to get involved! Explore our Spoonful of Hope program for volunteer opportunities, donate critical needs through a Wish List drive, or consider alternative fundraising options like Coins for Kids.

We appreciate all the support for our pop tab program and are incredibly grateful for the dedication shown by your organizations and communities. We understand that this change may take some getting used to, but we believe this is the best step for our growing organization.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support!

Warmly,
The RMHC Greater Delaware Team

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about retiring the pop tab program. Give us a call at (302) 656-4847 or email haley@rmhcdelaware.org.