Advocating for community and sustainability, one can at a time

By Emily Stewart

Anyone with empty drink cans can give back to the community by donating to the Kids Can! Collective.

Kids Can! is a collective started by Kimberley Davis and her children through which funds earned from returning empty cans and bottles are donated back to the community of St. Marys.

Davis, who shares a property line with the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, would collect cans on the grounds and her kids ran a dollar-candy treat-bag stand. Her children sold candy bags as she ran the McDonald’s free juice stand at St. Marys’ Pride in the Park in June. After making $25 from the bags, Davis suggested her kids donate the money back to St. Marys Pride.

"It went from, 'Oh my god, there's money in the beer can. We don't need the money, let's turn it into profit for something else and treat people,’ ” she said.

Kids Can! Collective announced on their Instagram that, in 2024, more than 5,000 alcohol beverage empties and 20 pounds of aluminum cans were returned, which raised $750 for the community. The funds supported local festivals and the St. Marys Public Library pantry program.

Cans and bottles are either picked up from residents’ homes or placed in the barrel and containers at 374 Church St. S. Pop and energy drink cans are taken to the scrapyard, and alcohol-beverage empties are returned to the Beer Store for refund.

"We put the profits back into community incentives in hopes that the community then wants to help us keep this going, just keep the money from the community in the community and just to see a happy face everywhere,” Davis said.

St. Marys’ organizations and businesses have also been stepping up to support the initiative. The St. Marys Kinsmen donated bags of cans and a barrel, and Joe’s Diner donated empty condiment buckets for can collecting.

"It's been really great just having a little bit of people just being like, 'We're seeing what you're doing, keep doing it,’ ” Davis said.

Davis enjoys going for walks and collecting cans for the initiative on backroads. As not all aluminum products are recycled right from the bin, she takes that extra step.

"When you put aluminum cans into a recycling bin, they don't always get reused properly because if that container becomes contaminated, then it needs to be wasted,” Davis said.

In addition to collecting cans and bottles, Kids Can! also collects can tabs to be donated to the local Shriners’ wheelchair program. It takes 5 million can tabs to create a wheelchair.

"I did get word from a gentleman that his sister received a wheelchair from the Shriners in our community,” Davis said. “So, as soon as he said that, it really cemented, 'Okay, this is so important what we do, that's why we do it.' "

For more information, either visit www.instagram.com/kidscan.collective or text Davis at 519-878-9775.