October 4, 2025 • 19 mins
You may not think twice about paying that extra fee for canned soda, beer, seltzer, and other drinks at the grocery store, but how often do you bring the cans back to the store to get your money back? Over the years, Jeff Dinneen of Needham has made it his mission to collect those cans, redeem them, and use the money to supply the Needham Community Council with much-needed food and milk for local residents in need. He talks with Nichole this week about his inspiration, his process, and how you can help keep the project going.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England
Weekend where each and every week right here we come
together we talk about all the topics important to you
and the place where you live. It is great to
have you back with us this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
When we're at the grocery store, we're really not thinking
twice about paying an extra five cents a can for
coke or seltzer beer or whatever it is you want
(00:29):
to buy. But then when you get home and you
drink it all, how often do you actually go back
to the store and get your money back. The fifty
or sixty cents you might get just may not be
worth your time. You may just throw it all in
the recycling. You might not even have space to store
the cans even if you did want to bring them back.
Either way, Jeff Denine says he can help with that.
He's the need of man behind Cans for Calcium. This
(00:51):
is a program keeping cans out of the trash and
also making sure local families get fed. Let's learn all
about this now. Jeff is on the show. Thank you
so so much for the time. I would love to
hear the story. This is a year's long story about
Cansta calcium and how you made this a reality.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It actually started about oh ten or eleven years ago
when I was working. I worked for local supermarket chain,
and what I would do was I would give and
the need of food pantry gift certifics to go to
milk and they could go to any Roach Brothers or
Subway Farm supermarket and pick up a half a gallon
of milk. But I was working at that time, so
(01:30):
I was doing it out of my own pocket. So
around eight years ago I retired. I was having my
first grandson. I retired to take care of him, and
at the same time, up at the Needham Transfer Station,
the Boy Scouts in the late nineties had built this
shed to collect all the redeemable items that the people
(01:54):
from the town that need them would leave. So they
did it for years and then right around just before
COVID started, Sandy Robinson and I that was the DPW
Department of Needham and express our interest in taking over
the shed. And the idea was to take all those
(02:14):
redeemables and put the money and it would go directly
to the food pantry, so it would be which was
kind of narrowed there to my hot since I was
a grocery guy and I thought I kind of thought
it was a good thing. So the milk, like I said,
started when I was doing it on my own. Then
what we did is my family donated two commercial refrigerators
(02:37):
so that they could put them into the food pantry,
and then we would just deliver half cauns of milk
directly to the food pantry so that the clients didn't
have to go make a second step to get a
half a gallon of milk. When we first started, they
had no milk. It was all shof shelf stable milk.
(02:57):
And you know, I was always brought up in milk
and how important it is and their clients, and the
clients were looking for this milk. So we decided, okay,
we'll start this program. So the DPW was all for it.
They said, it sounds like a great idea. Just maintained
the shed and it said. I was a little slow
because it was hard to get people aware of the program.
(03:21):
And then COVID hit and they shut it down because
when COVID first came out, no one could realize if
you could get COVID from touching cans, So they shut
the whole thing down for about two or three months,
and then after that they gradually opened it back up
when they realized that it was safe to do so.
A little after late twenty nineteen is when it really
(03:45):
started in Earnest and then it started to pick up.
The Needum Community Council were sending out flyers, we were
sending out notifications to the need of residents about this
cancer counciling program and how it was going to go.
And it took us about a year and a half,
but we reached our first million and then from there
(04:07):
we took it and that really that really got a
pretty good posting. So then then we started to pick
it up and I had I had mostly family members
at that point helping me. So basically what happens is
we have a transfer it's a shed, and then we
have these com Mingo containers that that the facility has
(04:28):
and we put these big green construction balves around by
these com Mingo containers, and then the the Needham residents
would put all their deparsit, cans, plastic, and bottles into
these green containers. But it was getting too much for
just my family, so then we went to the high
school and we got a bunch of high school kids
(04:49):
that needed their community service house. So they were great.
They start, they started coming in, they were great. You know,
they were mostly weekends because you know, they had stuff
to do during the week. One of my favorite ones
was this girl, Mazie Burger. And when she started with me,
she was I think she was thirteen or fourteen. Anyway,
(05:09):
she started and she did her about midst the project
with me. And in the town of Needham, there's a
junior high school called Pollard and she lived right by
that Pollard School. So how she started was she went
to every house within four neighborhoods of her house and
(05:30):
knocked from the door, and anyone that would listen to her,
she'd explain the program to him, and the ones that didn't,
she'd just leave a flyer with them. About three weeks
so what she said to them is, you can leave
these at the transfer station. I happened to collect them
at my house at the end of the driveway and
May and then May he said, you can either do
(05:50):
that or I'm going to set it up at my house.
You can live at my house or call me and
I'll come pick them up. So three weeks after she
starts this program. Her parents would come down Saturdays in
two caves filled with classic bags and Majie collected from
those four neighborhoods. It was awesome. It was awesome. So
(06:13):
that got to be too That got to be too much.
So she said, you know, from now on, just bring
him to the transfer station, mister Deneen. And she's still
been with me. You know, she's been there four or
five years. She has all the community service hours she
needs to get out of college for granted.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Oh, I was gonna say she's set when it comes
to community service. She's done it at this point.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
She brought her friends and they've been great. And like
I said, I had my family members. I have a
little side note. I had my oldest grandson is eight,
and when we turned three million cans, he came down
to the facility because they were doing a little peace
on us and he was talking amazing. And afterwards there's
(06:55):
a quiet moment. He comes over to me and he says, Papa,
He goes, pretty soon, I'm going to have to start
to help you. And I said, that's a great idea.
He said, when do you think that's going to happen?
He says, when I'm thirteen or fourteen years old. He goes,
the only probament, you'll be dead by that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh, out of the mouths of babes, I'm telling.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You, I'm going to die. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Who knew you had a psychic in the family.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh my god, it is so funny. He set a
good kid. They actually do come to me sometimes when
I go to pick up the milk, I bring my
grandson's with me and then we pick up the milk
at the store. We bring it over to the food pantry.
We put in the refrigerator so they can kind of
see how the whole process works.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's great. Yeah, let's talk about that process actually, because
I'd want to learn more about So you take the
cans yourself. Either they come to your house or people
bring them to the recycling and transfer station. So where
do you bring the cans to turn them in to
get the money?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It varies. There's about three different locations. The main one
is his place over in West rox We. It's a
liquor store, okay, and they have they have machines, so
we're hand feeding these in one by one. Oh, and
it's it's quite it's quite a process. So basically what
happens is the Needham residents drop their stuff off at
(08:23):
the at the transfer station. Then we take it and
we sort it by aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles,
and then we bag it up and then we bring
it over to that liquor store and we redeem them
in the machines and then we have so now we
have money. And then what I do is three sometimes
four times a week, I go to a local supermarket.
(08:46):
I pick up anywhere from thirty six to fifty four
half gallons a day, and then I go to the
food pantry and I loaded, I loaded into the food
pantry refrigerators.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And you're a grocery store guy, so you know what
to get right, and you got to be on great
terms with everybody at the grocery stores around Needham.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh exactly, well, I actually I worked with local chain.
They had a couple of stores based in Needham, and
so I do. I I kind of know everybody. And
then it's been awesome at the at the transfer station,
the amount of people that I've met and friendly people
and really you know, giving us a pep talk to
(09:24):
keep on going, and can't believe you're doing this and
so it's it's kind of it's kind of a good thing.
And one of the things that actually made me do
this is my mother was a was a firm believer
in giving back to the community, and she would have
loved this program. She would end up there swiating bottles
and cans with me to make sure that the program worked.
(09:46):
So it's so it came from that my first influx
into uh, Candy Dempson. I was a boy scout and
this is a long time ago. This isn't the nineteen
seventy seventy one, okay, and back then deposits were only
two cents, but they had a bottling can drive and
(10:09):
I went out and I beat all the other troops
by myself.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Look at you. Okay, yeah, I'd.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Say, back then they didn't have a badge for that,
but they made one up.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And you haven't got with them a little you know,
soda can on it or something that's impressed good.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, it was pretty it was pretty good. Yeah, So
we did we did that. Part of the reason I
do it is I'm a firm believer in recycling, and
this is just this is twofold. This is getting money
directly to the food pantry and it's getting waste out
of the the waste stream, so it's it's to me,
(10:50):
it's a double wind. Yeah, so I.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Like it, and it's in your DNA. It seems not
just to help people, but also to do it through
collecting cans. I mean, this is something you've been doing
this your whole life.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
You could say pretty much, yeah, pretty much. It's a
good thing. And like I said when I when I retired,
it kind of shortly thereafter the boys go to giving
up on the shed and it was just they tried
to have you know, we different organizations could do it,
you know, for a week at a time or two
weeks at a time. But it is not a glamorous job.
(11:25):
You know, you get some that you know, a lot
of people are really good. They empty them some don't,
you know, and you don't realize it, you know, until
you're dumping them and it's on your shoes, hands or whatever.
It's bad. So we've got a little bit of system
now to identify those, Like I said, the high school
the high school kids doing great, well.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, because they're young and you can make them do
the dirty stuff at.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
This point exactly right.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
But you know, you have to the stuff spills, and
you know, people throw trash in with the recycling, and
you know, it can get a little bit gnarly at times,
I'm sure very knowally.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And maze these parents they get into the program too,
and they come up and they don't help every weekend,
but every you know, maybe one weekend a month they
come up and help.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It's got to be a very rewarding feeling for you
knowing that, especially right now when times are tough and
the cost of living is super high. You know this
now more than ever, is really important to be doing
for your community.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, you know, I'm almost a need them lifer, and
you know, to me, need Them has always been a
very well to do community. And if you can check
the data with the Need of Community Council. But I
believe at this point here they're serving three hundred and
seventy six families that need them, which is over fourteen
(12:42):
hundred people.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Think about that in the town I need them, which
is a very well to do community. And they keep that.
When COVID came, it went through the roof. I mean,
the amount of people that needed it, it just went
up and up and up and up. But now that
they have. They're having the same problems. You know, the
boss some food pantry where they get you know, some
of their food cases of food. They get their their
(13:04):
budget get cut by two million dollars, and you know,
unless someone steps up and gives them two million dollars,
that's going to be it's going to be tough for them.
What I was always amazed that at the need them
food fantry was they get no help from the town
and they get no help from the stake. So it's
all private donations. So what we do with the money
(13:25):
is the first thing that we buy is milk, and
then the second thing we do is we buy cases
of food. So we go in there when I when
I started. You can check the percentages with the community
council if they want, but it was seventy five percent
of the items that they were giving out in their
(13:46):
facility with cans and boxes and the beans, boxes of rice,
that kind of stuff. So, like I said, my family
donated two commercial refrigerators and one commercial freezer. Sixty seven
percent of the stuff that goes out of the facility
now fresh meat, fresh vegetable eggs, milk, so it's all
this pershable stuff I love that that was you know,
(14:09):
that they weren't getting before. When I the girl that
runs at Katina, she goes up and she does a
great tool when I bring my volunteers up there, and
she explained just exactly what I told you. You know,
it used to be boxes and cans, and now it's
it's all perishables, which is well sixty seven percent perishables,
(14:30):
which is which is awesome. Yeah, you know those are
the most expensive items, so it's you know, so they're
helping those families were the most expensive items. So it
gives you. It gives you a great feeling just knowing
that you can help you know, those kinds of people.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah. Yeah, well let's talk then about let's go over
the basics about how people can help you out. So
you can drop off cans both at your house and
if you're a Needham resident, where do you go to
bring the recyclables?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Okay, it's up it's up on Central Lab. It's called
the RTS station Okay, and it's open Tuesday through Saturday
from seven to four. And then when you when you
come into the facility, if you take an immediate rite there,
you'll see a shed. We have a big sign on
says cancer calcium. Okay, they can leave them at that.
They can leave them at that shed. Or there's five
(15:22):
blue combing or containers around the around the property and
we have gleen buckets right side of that. They all
mark with cancer calcium. All they have to do is
dump them in there.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Then, like I said, we take them and sort them.
And the way we go, we have we have eight
businesses that call us. They save them for us, and
they call us when you know, when it's time for pickup,
and we and we just go pick it up.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Oh easy enough, all right. Yeah, that's what I like
to hear. And again, if people can't, if they're not
need them residents, but say somebody is listening and I
don't know Debtum or maybe in Boston, and they're like, okay,
I've got all these cans, have a Seltzer habit or something,
and I want to get rid of these cans for
a good cause. Where can they bring them?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
They will let them bring them right into the Needum
transfer station. Oh good, Okay, Well if they want, if
they want, they can, they can get a hold of me.
And my information is on the Needhum community council page. Yes,
and we will come get them.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh beautiful, even better.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, it's even it's even better. Right, Like I said,
we have eight businesses that do that now. And I
talked to two ladies last week and they bring me
their stuff all the time, and they said, we've gone
to our businesses and they're going to start saving them
for you and we'll call you when we have you know,
when we have a big bag.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Pone beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So it's basically it's basically just wood and mouth is
our best. That's that's how we get our best bang
for the buck, so to speak. And when we went
from in when we reached three million cans, we were
actually on Channel five news. Yeah, okay, they did a
(17:01):
piece on us and they gave us three minutes in
the five thirty news, which was outstanding. And so it's
a Needham television station with a lot of need of
methidents listening. And I'm sorry, it's not that we've no.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
That's okay. We love our friends at CVB.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's totally fine, okay. So that helped tremendously. So it
used to take me about fifteen maybe sixteen months to
get a million cans. But we were determined to see
if we could do it the fastest ever this year,
and it only took us thirteen months to get to
the next million.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Well, you know what, hopefully we can help you get
to four million pretty soon. You've got to be pretty
close at this point.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, we're four million, will be a week from today, okay,
if my instruments are correct. Okay, and then you know,
I never I never dreamed that we'll go this high
because it's a you know, it's like I said, it's
a dirty process, but it's worthwhile. We see all the
people that it's helping. The people of the food pant
(18:03):
have been awesome. You know, they go over bend over
backwards to help all these people. And you know sometimes
you know, Katerina will give me some items say you know,
we could really use this, and really use that, and
the latest item with sugar and sugar, and now we
give them one and two pound blocks of the sugar
every week. Beautiful, And you'd be amazed at how fast
(18:23):
this stuff goes. You know, we're talking three d and
seventy six families.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It doesn't take on right and growing kids. I mean, yeah,
they eat a lot, exactly a lot they definitely did.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And Cereal. You know, it's like, oh my god, you
know Cereal. I don't eat seal anymore, but when I
was a kid, I ate it, all of that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, you and me both. Yeah, I shoveled that stuff down.
I mean it's good.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Well, it's good stuff, and you know what kids have
to eat and growing families need this help and I'm
just grateful you're there to do it for them. And
so again it's the Needum Transfer Station, the r t S.
You can bring your cans. It doesn't matter what kind
of can it is, as long as it's an aluminum can.
And you know, it doesn't matter if it's beer or
seltzer or whatever. Just bring the cans. Bring the can,
(19:07):
bring the cans. All right, great, Well, you know it's
great having you on the show. Thank you so much,
Jeff for all the work you're doing. And again, if
people want to get in touch with you, the need
Them Community Council page, correct.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Edom Community Council. I think they put it under the
food pantry page.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Okay, Jeff, thank you for the time and it's great
to have you on the show and all the best
as you push past four million, and hopefully five million
will come faster than that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's the goal.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
All right, Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England
Weekend where each and every week right here we come
together we talk about all the topics important to you
and the place where you live. It is great to
have you back with us this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
When we're at the grocery store, we're really not thinking
twice about paying an extra five cents a can for
coke or seltzer beer or whatever it is you want
(00:29):
to buy. But then when you get home and you
drink it all, how often do you actually go back
to the store and get your money back. The fifty
or sixty cents you might get just may not be
worth your time. You may just throw it all in
the recycling. You might not even have space to store
the cans even if you did want to bring them back.
Either way, Jeff Denine says he can help with that.
He's the need of man behind Cans for Calcium. This
(00:51):
is a program keeping cans out of the trash and
also making sure local families get fed. Let's learn all
about this now. Jeff is on the show. Thank you
so so much for the time. I would love to
hear the story. This is a year's long story about
Cansta calcium and how you made this a reality.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
It actually started about oh ten or eleven years ago
when I was working. I worked for local supermarket chain,
and what I would do was I would give and
the need of food pantry gift certifics to go to
milk and they could go to any Roach Brothers or
Subway Farm supermarket and pick up a half a gallon
of milk. But I was working at that time, so
(01:30):
I was doing it out of my own pocket. So
around eight years ago I retired. I was having my
first grandson. I retired to take care of him, and
at the same time, up at the Needham Transfer Station,
the Boy Scouts in the late nineties had built this
shed to collect all the redeemable items that the people
(01:54):
from the town that need them would leave. So they
did it for years and then right around just before
COVID started, Sandy Robinson and I that was the DPW
Department of Needham and express our interest in taking over
the shed. And the idea was to take all those
(02:14):
redeemables and put the money and it would go directly
to the food pantry, so it would be which was
kind of narrowed there to my hot since I was
a grocery guy and I thought I kind of thought
it was a good thing. So the milk, like I said,
started when I was doing it on my own. Then
what we did is my family donated two commercial refrigerators
(02:37):
so that they could put them into the food pantry,
and then we would just deliver half cauns of milk
directly to the food pantry so that the clients didn't
have to go make a second step to get a
half a gallon of milk. When we first started, they
had no milk. It was all shof shelf stable milk.
(02:57):
And you know, I was always brought up in milk
and how important it is and their clients, and the
clients were looking for this milk. So we decided, okay,
we'll start this program. So the DPW was all for it.
They said, it sounds like a great idea. Just maintained
the shed and it said. I was a little slow
because it was hard to get people aware of the program.
(03:21):
And then COVID hit and they shut it down because
when COVID first came out, no one could realize if
you could get COVID from touching cans, So they shut
the whole thing down for about two or three months,
and then after that they gradually opened it back up
when they realized that it was safe to do so.
A little after late twenty nineteen is when it really
(03:45):
started in Earnest and then it started to pick up.
The Needum Community Council were sending out flyers, we were
sending out notifications to the need of residents about this
cancer counciling program and how it was going to go.
And it took us about a year and a half,
but we reached our first million and then from there
(04:07):
we took it and that really that really got a
pretty good posting. So then then we started to pick
it up and I had I had mostly family members
at that point helping me. So basically what happens is
we have a transfer it's a shed, and then we
have these com Mingo containers that that the facility has
(04:28):
and we put these big green construction balves around by
these com Mingo containers, and then the the Needham residents
would put all their deparsit, cans, plastic, and bottles into
these green containers. But it was getting too much for
just my family, so then we went to the high
school and we got a bunch of high school kids
(04:49):
that needed their community service house. So they were great.
They start, they started coming in, they were great. You know,
they were mostly weekends because you know, they had stuff
to do during the week. One of my favorite ones
was this girl, Mazie Burger. And when she started with me,
she was I think she was thirteen or fourteen. Anyway,
(05:09):
she started and she did her about midst the project
with me. And in the town of Needham, there's a
junior high school called Pollard and she lived right by
that Pollard School. So how she started was she went
to every house within four neighborhoods of her house and
(05:30):
knocked from the door, and anyone that would listen to her,
she'd explain the program to him, and the ones that didn't,
she'd just leave a flyer with them. About three weeks
so what she said to them is, you can leave
these at the transfer station. I happened to collect them
at my house at the end of the driveway and
May and then May he said, you can either do
(05:50):
that or I'm going to set it up at my house.
You can live at my house or call me and
I'll come pick them up. So three weeks after she
starts this program. Her parents would come down Saturdays in
two caves filled with classic bags and Majie collected from
those four neighborhoods. It was awesome. It was awesome. So
(06:13):
that got to be too That got to be too much.
So she said, you know, from now on, just bring
him to the transfer station, mister Deneen. And she's still
been with me. You know, she's been there four or
five years. She has all the community service hours she
needs to get out of college for granted.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Oh, I was gonna say she's set when it comes
to community service. She's done it at this point.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
She brought her friends and they've been great. And like
I said, I had my family members. I have a
little side note. I had my oldest grandson is eight,
and when we turned three million cans, he came down
to the facility because they were doing a little peace
on us and he was talking amazing. And afterwards there's
(06:55):
a quiet moment. He comes over to me and he says, Papa,
He goes, pretty soon, I'm going to have to start
to help you. And I said, that's a great idea.
He said, when do you think that's going to happen?
He says, when I'm thirteen or fourteen years old. He goes,
the only probament, you'll be dead by that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh, out of the mouths of babes, I'm telling.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You, I'm going to die. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Who knew you had a psychic in the family.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh my god, it is so funny. He set a
good kid. They actually do come to me sometimes when
I go to pick up the milk, I bring my
grandson's with me and then we pick up the milk
at the store. We bring it over to the food pantry.
We put in the refrigerator so they can kind of
see how the whole process works.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's great. Yeah, let's talk about that process actually, because
I'd want to learn more about So you take the
cans yourself. Either they come to your house or people
bring them to the recycling and transfer station. So where
do you bring the cans to turn them in to
get the money?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It varies. There's about three different locations. The main one
is his place over in West rox We. It's a
liquor store, okay, and they have they have machines, so
we're hand feeding these in one by one. Oh, and
it's it's quite it's quite a process. So basically what
happens is the Needham residents drop their stuff off at
(08:23):
the at the transfer station. Then we take it and
we sort it by aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles,
and then we bag it up and then we bring
it over to that liquor store and we redeem them
in the machines and then we have so now we
have money. And then what I do is three sometimes
four times a week, I go to a local supermarket.
(08:46):
I pick up anywhere from thirty six to fifty four
half gallons a day, and then I go to the
food pantry and I loaded, I loaded into the food
pantry refrigerators.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And you're a grocery store guy, so you know what
to get right, and you got to be on great
terms with everybody at the grocery stores around Needham.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh exactly, well, I actually I worked with local chain.
They had a couple of stores based in Needham, and
so I do. I I kind of know everybody. And
then it's been awesome at the at the transfer station,
the amount of people that I've met and friendly people
and really you know, giving us a pep talk to
(09:24):
keep on going, and can't believe you're doing this and
so it's it's kind of it's kind of a good thing.
And one of the things that actually made me do
this is my mother was a was a firm believer
in giving back to the community, and she would have
loved this program. She would end up there swiating bottles
and cans with me to make sure that the program worked.
(09:46):
So it's so it came from that my first influx
into uh, Candy Dempson. I was a boy scout and
this is a long time ago. This isn't the nineteen
seventy seventy one, okay, and back then deposits were only
two cents, but they had a bottling can drive and
(10:09):
I went out and I beat all the other troops
by myself.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Look at you. Okay, yeah, I'd.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Say, back then they didn't have a badge for that,
but they made one up.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And you haven't got with them a little you know,
soda can on it or something that's impressed good.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, it was pretty it was pretty good. Yeah, So
we did we did that. Part of the reason I
do it is I'm a firm believer in recycling, and
this is just this is twofold. This is getting money
directly to the food pantry and it's getting waste out
of the the waste stream, so it's it's to me,
(10:50):
it's a double wind. Yeah, so I.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Like it, and it's in your DNA. It seems not
just to help people, but also to do it through
collecting cans. I mean, this is something you've been doing
this your whole life.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
You could say pretty much, yeah, pretty much. It's a
good thing. And like I said when I when I retired,
it kind of shortly thereafter the boys go to giving
up on the shed and it was just they tried
to have you know, we different organizations could do it,
you know, for a week at a time or two
weeks at a time. But it is not a glamorous job.
(11:25):
You know, you get some that you know, a lot
of people are really good. They empty them some don't,
you know, and you don't realize it, you know, until
you're dumping them and it's on your shoes, hands or whatever.
It's bad. So we've got a little bit of system
now to identify those, Like I said, the high school
the high school kids doing great, well.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, because they're young and you can make them do
the dirty stuff at.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
This point exactly right.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
But you know, you have to the stuff spills, and
you know, people throw trash in with the recycling, and
you know, it can get a little bit gnarly at times,
I'm sure very knowally.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And maze these parents they get into the program too,
and they come up and they don't help every weekend,
but every you know, maybe one weekend a month they
come up and help.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It's got to be a very rewarding feeling for you
knowing that, especially right now when times are tough and
the cost of living is super high. You know this
now more than ever, is really important to be doing
for your community.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, you know, I'm almost a need them lifer, and
you know, to me, need Them has always been a
very well to do community. And if you can check
the data with the Need of Community Council. But I
believe at this point here they're serving three hundred and
seventy six families that need them, which is over fourteen
(12:42):
hundred people.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Think about that in the town I need them, which
is a very well to do community. And they keep that.
When COVID came, it went through the roof. I mean,
the amount of people that needed it, it just went
up and up and up and up. But now that
they have. They're having the same problems. You know, the
boss some food pantry where they get you know, some
of their food cases of food. They get their their
(13:04):
budget get cut by two million dollars, and you know,
unless someone steps up and gives them two million dollars,
that's going to be it's going to be tough for them.
What I was always amazed that at the need them
food fantry was they get no help from the town
and they get no help from the stake. So it's
all private donations. So what we do with the money
(13:25):
is the first thing that we buy is milk, and
then the second thing we do is we buy cases
of food. So we go in there when I when
I started. You can check the percentages with the community
council if they want, but it was seventy five percent
of the items that they were giving out in their
(13:46):
facility with cans and boxes and the beans, boxes of rice,
that kind of stuff. So, like I said, my family
donated two commercial refrigerators and one commercial freezer. Sixty seven
percent of the stuff that goes out of the facility
now fresh meat, fresh vegetable eggs, milk, so it's all
this pershable stuff I love that that was you know,
(14:09):
that they weren't getting before. When I the girl that
runs at Katina, she goes up and she does a
great tool when I bring my volunteers up there, and
she explained just exactly what I told you. You know,
it used to be boxes and cans, and now it's
it's all perishables, which is well sixty seven percent perishables,
(14:30):
which is which is awesome. Yeah, you know those are
the most expensive items, so it's you know, so they're
helping those families were the most expensive items. So it
gives you. It gives you a great feeling just knowing
that you can help you know, those kinds of people.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah. Yeah, well let's talk then about let's go over
the basics about how people can help you out. So
you can drop off cans both at your house and
if you're a Needham resident, where do you go to
bring the recyclables?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Okay, it's up it's up on Central Lab. It's called
the RTS station Okay, and it's open Tuesday through Saturday
from seven to four. And then when you when you
come into the facility, if you take an immediate rite there,
you'll see a shed. We have a big sign on
says cancer calcium. Okay, they can leave them at that.
They can leave them at that shed. Or there's five
(15:22):
blue combing or containers around the around the property and
we have gleen buckets right side of that. They all
mark with cancer calcium. All they have to do is
dump them in there.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Then, like I said, we take them and sort them.
And the way we go, we have we have eight
businesses that call us. They save them for us, and
they call us when you know, when it's time for pickup,
and we and we just go pick it up.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Oh easy enough, all right. Yeah, that's what I like
to hear. And again, if people can't, if they're not
need them residents, but say somebody is listening and I
don't know Debtum or maybe in Boston, and they're like, okay,
I've got all these cans, have a Seltzer habit or something,
and I want to get rid of these cans for
a good cause. Where can they bring them?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
They will let them bring them right into the Needum
transfer station. Oh good, Okay, Well if they want, if
they want, they can, they can get a hold of me.
And my information is on the Needhum community council page. Yes,
and we will come get them.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh beautiful, even better.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, it's even it's even better. Right, Like I said,
we have eight businesses that do that now. And I
talked to two ladies last week and they bring me
their stuff all the time, and they said, we've gone
to our businesses and they're going to start saving them
for you and we'll call you when we have you know,
when we have a big bag.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Pone beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So it's basically it's basically just wood and mouth is
our best. That's that's how we get our best bang
for the buck, so to speak. And when we went
from in when we reached three million cans, we were
actually on Channel five news. Yeah, okay, they did a
(17:01):
piece on us and they gave us three minutes in
the five thirty news, which was outstanding. And so it's
a Needham television station with a lot of need of
methidents listening. And I'm sorry, it's not that we've no.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
That's okay. We love our friends at CVB.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's totally fine, okay. So that helped tremendously. So it
used to take me about fifteen maybe sixteen months to
get a million cans. But we were determined to see
if we could do it the fastest ever this year,
and it only took us thirteen months to get to
the next million.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Well, you know what, hopefully we can help you get
to four million pretty soon. You've got to be pretty
close at this point.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, we're four million, will be a week from today, okay,
if my instruments are correct. Okay, and then you know,
I never I never dreamed that we'll go this high
because it's a you know, it's like I said, it's
a dirty process, but it's worthwhile. We see all the
people that it's helping. The people of the food pant
(18:03):
have been awesome. You know, they go over bend over
backwards to help all these people. And you know sometimes
you know, Katerina will give me some items say you know,
we could really use this, and really use that, and
the latest item with sugar and sugar, and now we
give them one and two pound blocks of the sugar
every week. Beautiful, And you'd be amazed at how fast
(18:23):
this stuff goes. You know, we're talking three d and
seventy six families.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
It doesn't take on right and growing kids. I mean, yeah,
they eat a lot, exactly a lot they definitely did.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And Cereal. You know, it's like, oh my god, you
know Cereal. I don't eat seal anymore, but when I
was a kid, I ate it, all of that.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, you and me both. Yeah, I shoveled that stuff down.
I mean it's good.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Well, it's good stuff, and you know what kids have
to eat and growing families need this help and I'm
just grateful you're there to do it for them. And
so again it's the Needum Transfer Station, the r t S.
You can bring your cans. It doesn't matter what kind
of can it is, as long as it's an aluminum can.
And you know, it doesn't matter if it's beer or
seltzer or whatever. Just bring the cans. Bring the can,
(19:07):
bring the cans. All right, great, Well, you know it's
great having you on the show. Thank you so much,
Jeff for all the work you're doing. And again, if
people want to get in touch with you, the need
Them Community Council page, correct.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Edom Community Council. I think they put it under the
food pantry page.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Okay, Jeff, thank you for the time and it's great
to have you on the show and all the best
as you push past four million, and hopefully five million
will come faster than that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's the goal.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
All right, Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
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