FERGUS – It came as an out-of-the-blue request when Zander Renouf told his parents he wanted to collect pop can tabs to help someone get a wheelchair.
But when your child wants to do a good deed, you want to comply, said his father Steve Renouf.
“It probably came from school,” said Steve. “We had never talked about it.
“But my wife Ashley did some research and found a family with a child with cerebral palsy who will probably need a wheelchair. So Zander started collecting for her.”
Eighteen months later, Zander had collected 165 pounds of pop tabs, and on Oct. 12 he handed them over to Jennifer Guidotti, an aunt of Olivia Guidotti, who will need a wheelchair in the near future.
“Olivia was 48-hours old when she started having seizures in hospital,” Guidotti said, adding Olivia was eight months old when finally diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She is now approaching two years old.
“She can’t sit on her own. She has no neck support. She will need a wheelchair, so we started a campaign,” Guidotti said.
Guidotti’s husband is Marco Guidotti, deputy fire chief in Wellington North, and he set up a drop-off location at the fire hall.
Several people have been contributing throughout Wellington County, not just Zander, and Guidotti was overwhelmed by the cumulative generosity.
Now eight years old, Zander has been collecting for almost two years.
He put the call out to family and friends, who started snapping off the tabs and setting them aside for him.
Guidotti burst into tears when Zander showed what he had amassed: three boxes, two large water jugs and one smaller one, and a plastic container – all filled with pop tabs. He figured there were about 200,000 pop tabs in all, for a total 165 pounds.
“You have no idea what this means to us,” said Guidotti as she loaded her car.
For his part, Zander said he feels “proud” and “satisfied” that he helped this little girl.
“It feels good,” he said.
The pop tabs are sold to recyclers. The cash is used to purchase a wheelchair.
