11/4/2009 6:00:00 AM
Never too young to help
4-year-old discovers passion for collecting soda tabs
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JAMES CHILTON/Miner
Anthony Cordova's mother, Nancy, and Cerbat Elementary general clerk Cindy Blake hold up a Ronald McDonald House collection box that holds all the soda tabs Anthony has collected recently. Anthony has been collecting the aluminum tabs since the beginning of the school year.
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Courtesy
Four-year-old Anthony Cordova began collecting soda tabs this year to help out needy kids. |
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KINGMAN - Anthony Cordova has never heard of leukemia. The words "metastatic neuroblastoma" are not a part of his vocabulary.
That's because Anthony is just 4 years old, and there's a lot about life he has yet to learn. But one thing he does know is that he's helping people. He's not sure exactly how it all works just yet, but he knows he's helping them, and that's all he needs to keep him going.
Anthony first started helping people shortly after school began earlier this year. While Anthony himself is still too young to go, his mother, Nancy, would bring him along with her to Cerbat Elementary School to pick up his older sister, Madeline.
It was during one of these visits that Anthony first noticed the funny little house on top of the school's office counter. It was a white house with a red roof and a picture of a soda tab on it.
"He saw the house and asked what it was for," Nancy said. "They explained it, and that was it from there."
The house was, of course, a collection box from the Ronald McDonald House Charities, whose mission is to provide seriously ill children and their families a place to stay at little or no cost when the child has to go to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The charity began promoting soda tabs as a fundraising device in 1987, collecting and recycling the pure aluminum, then using the proceeds to fund the Ronald McDonald House's operations. The tabs bring in about $35,000 a year, with total collections approaching nearly $1 million since the program started.
"He's never been sick, never been in the hospital; this is just something he does out of the kindness of his heart." said Cindy Blake, the general clerk at Cerbat who first introduced Anthony to the program. "He comes in at least twice a week and says, 'Here you go! This is for the kids!' He brings them in a little peppercini jar."
In just three months, Anthony has far out-collected anyone else at Cerbat Elementary, filling one house completely and filling his second more than halfway.
While a few of his tabs come from the soda he's allowed to drink - his favorite soda is Coca-Cola, or "the red one," as he calls it - most of Anthony's collections come from the people he's asked for help and from the tabs he finds lying around in public.
"Anytime we're in a parking lot and he sees one on the ground, he picks it up," Nancy said. "He's recruited our next door neighbor and his aunt, and her grandmother is collecting them for him, too. I think it's cool. He's really dedicated to it."
Nancy said at first Anthony wasn't sure what he was collecting the tabs for, then he worked out that he was "helping the kids at McDonald's." Now, however, he's gotten a better grasp on why he collects them.
"It's for the kids," he said.
"It gives them money so they can get houses by their hospital."
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Posted: Saturday, November 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Jolynn
Sweet Anthony. I'm so proud of you! This brought tears to my eyes Nancy. You guys are doing a great job. Keep up the good work Anthony.
Posted: Friday, November 06, 2009
Article comment by:
Auntie Inza
I remember when this kid was born. I am soooo proud if him and his mom for raising such an amaxing little boy. I love them both. He got ME to collect soda can tops too lol
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Sara
I have never heard of this program but it sounds pretty amazing. It is so nice to hear good news and to see someone so young helping a cause that he may or may not understand. Thank you! I have access to probably a couple hundred of those little tabs if anyone is interested in pulling them off. I cannot offer the whole can but you are welcome to the tab. Email me at hd_girl_here@yahoo.com if you are interested.
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