JACKSONVILLE – There’s a single bucket with a couple hundred soda can pull-tabs in Ted and Brenda Carls’ garage on Fleming Island. For most, that’s a lot of tabs – especially since they just started collecting them a week ago.

But for a couple and their three grandchildren, it’s just the beginning.

All over again.

The family unloaded several buckets containing more than 100,000 tabs to Ronald McDonald House last Friday, June 21. The donation was so overwhelming, the family needed a cart for the short walk from the parking lot to the quiet sanctuary of the House that provides lodging and amenities to families who have a child receiving life-saving treatment. It also earned the attention of the House’s Director of Operations, David Shaffer.

“We get a baggie of pull tabs 20 times a day,” Shaffer said. “We get a bucket of pull tabs 10 times a week. But something like this, we might get once or twice a year.”

Ronald McDonald House Charities started the pull-tab program to generate money to offset expenses while creating community awareness.

All the grandchildren know is it makes them feel good.

“It’s nice to help people,” 11-year-old Xavior said. “I will carry it on forever.”

The family started collecting the tabs nine years ago, not long after the youngest, 9-year-old Jeremiah, was born.

Nine years – and a whole lot of Moutain Dew – later, they dropped off their first load of 13 buckets of recyclable pull tabs.

“We probably average 10 [soft drinks] a day,” Brenda said while her husband sheepishly turned away and smiled. “Oddly enough, we don’t let the kids have soda. At least nothing with caffeine.”

There were a few root beer, lemon-lime and Fanta tabs in the buckets, 14-year-old Brianna said, but most came from her grandfather’s thirst for Mountain Dew.

“I don’t drink coffee,” Ted said.

The family then uses the rest of the aluminum cans to benefit Ponte Vedra Beach’s K9s for Warriors to buy a custom vest, hands-free leash and collar for a dog. Each vest costs about $125, Brenda said.

It takes 32 cans to make up a pound of scrap aluminum, and at 48-cents a pound, it takes 260 pounds – about 8,320 cans – to purchase a single vest.

“We’re hoping to make people more aware of it,” Brenda said. “Don’t throw a can in [the trash]. We support two non-profits at the same time with each can.”

Brenda got the idea after her niece was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago in North Carolina. The family was invited to stay at a Ronald McDonald House.

“They were so helpful, and I never forgot it,” she said. “I learned something new. That’s why I asked, ‘How can I help?’ That’s where it started.”

The grandchildren often go through other recycling bins in their neighborhood to remove cans to benefit their projects.

Jacksonville’s Ronald McDonald House, which is conveniently located across the street from Nemours Children’s Health and a block away from Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital, generally fills three 50-gallon recyclable bins every three weeks. Each bin brings in about $250, Shaffer said, that goes “toward paying the electric bill, the water bill, the gas bill, the supplies we need for the operation of the House.”

Tabs delivered by the Carls last week filled half a bin.

“That’s a night’s stay. That’s big,” Shaffer said. “Not only does this help black and white, monetarily, it helps connect people to the House. It gets people thinking about us. It’s such an incredible story, especially with them helping two organizations. I like that.”

Brianna said it’s unusual to see their garage without filled buckets lining the wall. But with every clink of another pull-tab, they get closer to filling another bucket.

All over again.

Visit https://www.claytodayonline.com/stories/contact-information-for-clay-county-non-profit-organizations,16910? for a list of the nonprofits in Clay County.