As the 6th annual Hannah’s Hope Pop Tab Collection took place on Saturday, a friendly competition between Porter County schools concluded at the South Haven McDonald’s here in Valparaiso. Participating students, along with their families and principals, celebrated their hard work with a meet-and-greet from Ronald McDonald and some ice cream.
“We have roughly 2.6 million pop tabs, which were collected by the Portage Township school system and the Duneland school system also with some other outside agencies. The Portage Township school winner was Myers Elementary, [and] the Duneland school winner was Bailly Elementary,” said Mike Martinez, Executive Director of Hannah’s Hope.
Hannah’s Hope is a not for profit organization that aims to assist children with special needs obtain various therapies and costly medical equipment. They also work with organizations in the area that provide these services. They do several events throughout the year, and the Pop Tab Collection raises money to help families at the Ronald McDonald House.
The winner from each school corporation is awarded a traveling trophy and the principals from both schools were there to accept their award as the defending champions. Portage winner, Myers Elementary collected 820 tabs per student, and Bailly Elementary from the Duneland school system collected 528 tabs per student. Bailly Elementary School Principal, Kevin Zeck, was still in shock by the amount of pop tabs his school had collected.
“We raised a bunch last year and we really didn’t expect to be able to raise the same amount. We far exceeded what we thought was going to happen,” Zeck said.
There was also a surprise donation from the Portage Rotary Club. Representative David Nevill attended to personally deliver the donation.
“What happen here is very important, it applies directly to some values that I have. This is supporting a much larger footprint than our region. It supports the efforts down at Indianapolis. We are honored to have the opportunity to give a little bit that will stay here locally,” Nevill said.
After meeting Ronald McDonald, enjoying some free ice cream and having fun in the McDonald’s PlayPlace, families and friends all left with a fuller stomach and heart.
For more information about Hannah’s Hope, click here.