Can Collection Raises Money For Cancer Research

By The Tampa Tribune
Published: December 28, 2008

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NEW PORT RICHEY --

Teacher Arlene Martinez was a bit surprised the day Erin Brown, 13, came to her with an unusual but touching request.

Erin planned to collect aluminum cans, sell them to a recycling company and donate the proceeds to H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center as a way to memorialize her father, Don Brown, who died of lung cancer in August.

Martinez turned the project into a competition among her classes, with the winning class period earning a pizza party. By the time the students were finished, they had collected more than 4,000 cans.

STR Industrial Steel Distributors agreed to pay 30 cents per pound for the cans, an extra 5 cents over the current price the company pays. Ralph Palazzolo, company vice president, said he agreed to the price when he learned how the money would be used.

Ronnie Blair