Thank you, B!

I just want to say thank you to an out of town friend who has given me my first Internet donation for the Five Million Can project. A friend from high school (who I didn't even realize read this blog) donated her cans to me this week. I got a surprise PayPal donation for $2.65 (53 cans worth of nickels). Thank you so much, B! It was a lovely surprise this week.

And in other pleasant news, lets take a look at other ways plastic bottles can help kids' education: A SCHOOL MADE OUT OF PLASTIC BOTTLES!

The cost of building new classrooms and schools shouldn't prohibit students in the developing world from accessing a quality education, but new construction, even using inexpensive materials like cinder block, can run up a five-digit bill in construction costs. Now, Hug It Forward, a nonprofit in Guatemala, has figured out how to build new schools on a shoestring budget by turning the plastic bottles that litter the countryside's villages into raw construction materials.

A plastic school might sound like it's better suited for Barbies than for people, but the technology—developed by the Guatemalan nonprofit Pura Vida—is actually quite clever and allows for schools to be built for less than $10,000. The plastic bottles are stuffed with trash, tucked between supportive chicken wire, and coated in layers of concrete to form walls between the framing. The bottles make up the insulation, while more structurally sound materials like wood posts are used for the framing.

One added bonus of the nonprofit's work is educating local children about the environment by helping them gather the bottles that end up in their schools' walls. "They create the school that in turn creates opportunities for them," Hug It Forward staff write on the group's website. A two-classroom schoolhouse built by Hug it Forward in Granados used up 5,000 bottles, which otherwise would've kicked around the town's street or ended up in a trash heap. Hug it Forward has already built 12 schools around the country, with four more in the works.

Photo courtesy of Hug it Forward

GRAND TOTAL OF BOTTLES & CANS: 10,791
$539.58 towards Sam and Max's education!

Accidents Happen

Well, it's that time of year. I can't say "again" because it's a first for us at our household. The first day of school.

Over the weekend, we first took in our recycling (hottest day of the year). So, Max and Samantha helped sort the bottles and cans. Max so wanted to put everything in the machine with the big green button, but a: the machine doesn't take everything and b: I don't want it to take his arm.)

So, after collecting $11.30 (226 nickels) for our efforts, we went to the Dollar Tree and then Walmart to pick up the remaining necessary school supplies.
Nothing like a hot, hot day and crowds of shoppers to make someone cranky, especially with a 5 year old and a little boy who insists that he's "two-half".
We got our markers, new shoes, waited (for nearly an hour!!!) to get a new booster seat and then Samantha reached into her pocket-- she'd been playing with and counting and recounting her "college money."

And then she realized it was all gone. She said "the cash" -- actually coins - thirty cents -- were still in her pocket, but the eleven dollars were gone.
I hate to say that I did lose my temper when she said, "It's okay, Mom. It's only money". Yes, in the long run, a loss of $11 is not that much. But, the whole point of this experiment is everything adds up little by little.

And after asking the one employee I could find to ask if any money had been turned in and receiving the "Are you stupid?" stare, we left. I was nearly in tears.

But, accidents happen. It's only money. And the more important part is that the cans got recycled. So, although it doesn't go toward our Five million can total, we recycled 226 cans and bottles this week.

Oh, and I will never shop at this Walmart again.
(Not that I usually shopped there anyway.)

So, Cans recycled this week: 226.
Cans that get counted towards our goal, zip.
Grand total stays at: 10,738 bottles and cans and $536.93
But, Greg just gave us a few bags of soda cans to take in. And another interesting note he made was not just "how many cans added up at my desk," but, "I can't believe I drank that much soda in a month!"