Cork man collecting recycled bottles and cans to boost Mercy funds

A Cork man has been fundraising for the Mercy Hospital Foundation by collecting excess plastic bottles and cans.

Dave O’Leary, who works as an operator at the Pepsi plant in Little Island, organised the fundraiser in honour of his friend Ian, who underwent treatment at Mercy University Hospital prior to his death three years ago.

“We started at the end of August,” said Mr O’Leary. “I did the Cork City Marathon and I kept noticing loads of people were collecting plastic bottles and I was, like, ‘what are they doing?

“I got chatting to a guy and he said they were collecting for a charity and I thought that would be a great idea for the Mercy hospital.

“So that’s how the idea initially came about, and the way we do it is that we have multiple blue bins around the factory with the Mercy Hospital Foundation logo on the front of them, and obviously there are a lot of Pepsi cans about, so people can deposit them there.”

Mr O’Leary said that through this campaign, they have collected more than 6,000 cans and close to 9,000 plastic bottles, bringing their fundraising value up to €700.

“I keep all the receipts and the transactions, and I hand them in at the end of the month to Pepsi.

“Whatever is raised from it, Pepsi will match it, so we’re hoping that it will be closer to the €1,000 mark by the time we hand over the cheque.”

Successful

He added that the campaign has been so successful that the company will reintroduce the initiative next year, with proceeds going to another charity of choice.

“It was only supposed to run for a month but then it just kind of grew stronger and stronger, and HR came to talk to me and they said we’ll keep it for another month, and then another month, and then that turned into we’re going to keep it until December,” said Mr O’Leary.

“I think the plan is after this one finishes is that they’re going to have another one next year for 12 months, and then donate it all at the end of the year for another charity going forward.

“At the end of November, I’m going to set up a GoFundMe page to give this one last push before we hand over a cheque in December.

“A very close friend of mine passed away from cancer, they were very good to him when he was going through his treatment, [so] this is something very close to my heart. Everybody is touched by cancer, and the work they do inside there [Mercy hospital], they deal with everything across the board, from elderly people to young kids, it’s phenomenal.”