WEST LAFAYETTE – Most people probably don’t think twice about throwing away bread tags, the small, roundish square plastic pieces that keep loaves of bread from going stale. But to Purdue sophomore Danielle Rothchild, they’re a hot commodity, the very items that allow her nonprofit to continue donating wheelchairs to people in need.
Rothchild has always been interested in sustainability and recycling, and at 16 participated in a contest through Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, which had a category called Recycle and Redesign.
While eating dinner one night at a Five Guys restaurant, she saw an employee throw away a bread tag. Watching that tiny piece of plastic go into the trash struck inspiration for Rothchild, and she constructed a dress made entirely out of bread tags for the competition.
First starting to collect bread tags to create her dress around Carmel and Indianapolis, she visited local businesses and restaurants, and even asked vendors at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, if they could donate. They did, and after she finished constructing the dress, which she designed in a 1920’s flapper style, Rothchild was left with around 40,000 bread tags.
She began researching what to do with the leftover bread tags that were taking up space in her living room and came across a Breadtags for Wheelchairs, a foundation run by 80-year-old Mary Honeybun out of Cape Town, South Africa.
“I thought, if she could do that, so could I,” Rothchild said.
Thus, Danielle Cares for Chairs was born. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit collects bread tags, recycles them, and uses the money to purchase wheelchairs or other motorized chairs to help people in need. Since she began the nonprofit, she has donated seven mobility products: four mobility cars and three wheelchairs.
She also works with Purdue robotics teams to help adapt the mobility cars, which are often given to children.
It takes 260,000 bread tags to purchase a wheelchair, 650,000 to purchase a mobility car, and 950,000 to purchase a mobility chair, Rothchild said.
A pound of bread tags is around 1,300 of the little pieces.
While living on Purdue’s campus during the fall and spring semesters, she mainly collects from the Purdue dining courts, but has also received donations from other local restaurants, hospitals and even jails around Indiana.
They all go into storage in her living room back home in Carmel, where the bread tags “have kind of taken over the space,” she said.
After setting up her website, Facebook page and receiving some local media attention, donations from around the state, country and world began to pour in. Rothchild said she has received bread tags from places as far away as Novia Scotia, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii.
“It’s funny, I’m one girl in Indiana and I’m getting bread tags in the mail from all of these far away places,” Rothchild said.
Rothchild said she mainly works on the nonprofit during her winter and summer breaks from Purdue, where she studies public relations. Focusing on Danielle Cares for Chairs full time when she’s off of school allows her time to “find the perfect recipient” for a wheelchair or mobility car.
To apply to receive a chair, people either can fill out an application on her website or can post on her Facebook page, which is where she learned of the last recipient- a three-year-old boy in Chicago. She traveled there in July to present the chair and held an event to collect bread tags in that area.
When not collecting and counting bread tags, Rothchild is involved in Purdue’s 18-hour dance marathon, Purdue University Dance Marathon, which benefits Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. The dance streak doesn’t end with PUDM — she also participates in Higher Ground Dance Company at Purdue, which raises money for the Andrea Rizzo Foundation.
Rothchild said she is in the early stages of planning an event to have incoming students participating in Purdue’s Boiler Gold Rush count bread tags.
Once she graduates from Purdue, Rothchild said she wants to work in the nonprofit world, but plans to give away Danielle Cares for Chairs to a high school student and serve in a mentorship role.
“People think our generation is just on their phones and obsessed with technology,” she said. “I want to focus on the youth and young adults and show how much good they can do, and that they really can change the world.”
Emily DeLetter is a news reporter for the Journal & Courier. Contact her at (765) 420-5205 or via email at edeletter@jconline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @EmilyDeLetter.
"bread" - Google News
December 23, 2019 at 09:32PM
https://ift.tt/2Mpg9hv
Purdue student collects, recycles bread tags to donate wheelchairs to people in need - Journal & Courier
"bread" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pGzbrj
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment