CCSD21 joins RMHC’s Thanks a Million club with pop tab donation

With the simple pop of a can tab, students and staff in Community Consolidated School District 21 have made a big impact.

Thanks to their ongoing collection efforts, the district recently joined the Ronald McDonald House Charities’ prestigious Thanks a Million Club—a recognition given to organizations that have collected more than 1 million pop tabs to support families with children receiving medical care.

“It means a lot to me that our district achieved this status,” said Patricia Zelasko, fourth grade general education teacher at Kilmer Elementary School, who has been spearheading the effort. “It is wonderful to see how a whole district worked together to reach and exceed the goal.”

The inspiration for this project began eight years ago, when Zelasko had a family friend who received medical services at Children’s Memorial: “They had mentioned collecting pop tabs, and how it helps families directly. This was an easy activity for students to participate in, and I wanted our kids to know that even though they are young, they too can make a huge difference in the lives of others.”

This same period in time is when Kilmer’s Make a Difference Club was developed, and became the first project they took on. At that point, the elementary school collected pop tabs and sent them in, unaware about the “Thanks a Million” Club.

The quest for the million, which equates to about 798 pounds of pop tabs, officially began about five years ago, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zelasko was serving as a Distance Learning Academy teacher at the time, and mentioned to her students of Kilmer’s previous efforts. They immediately wanted to get involved in a similar effort, according to Zelasko.

Enter Jennifer Jones, a parent from Frost Elementary School who also worked for the McDonald’s Corporation and highlighted the Thanks a Million Club. 

“She also talked with the class virtually about how this program benefits families directly,” Zelasko added. “The kids were all excited about this and asked if we could get the entire district participating in it.”

After district-wide approval, collection boxes were placed in each school and the district’s administrative offices. Children within the district also placed their own collection boxes at their parent’s place of employment, as well as different places within the communities. Zelasko also credits Riley Elementary School’s SPIN Club for “playing a huge part in collecting for the community service activity.”

Three times a year, these tabs would be collected and delivered to United Recycling in Cicero to be weighed and processed. From there, United Recycling would send the information to RMHC, which kept a log of what was donated.

By joining the Thanks a Million Club, District 21 has been added to a dedicated wall at the RMHC, and received a certificate to commemorate the achievement.

The district-wide collection efforts will not end, though! Zelasko has set a new goal to donate 1,000 pounds of pop tabs.