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Speaker 1: From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England

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Speaker 1: Weekend where each and every week right here we come

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Speaker 1: together we talk about all the topics important to you

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Speaker 1: and the place where you live. It is great to

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Speaker 1: have you back with us this week. I'm Nicole Davis.

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Speaker 1: When we're at the grocery store, we're really not thinking

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Speaker 1: twice about paying an extra five cents a can for

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Speaker 1: coke or seltzer beer or whatever it is you want

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Speaker 1: to buy. But then when you get home and you

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Speaker 1: drink it all, how often do you actually go back

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Speaker 1: to the store and get your money back. The fifty

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Speaker 1: or sixty cents you might get just may not be

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Speaker 1: worth your time. You may just throw it all in

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Speaker 1: the recycling. You might not even have space to store

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Speaker 1: the cans even if you did want to bring them back.

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Speaker 1: Either way, Jeff Denine says he can help with that.

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Speaker 1: He's the need of man behind Cans for Calcium. This

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Speaker 1: is a program keeping cans out of the trash and

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Speaker 1: also making sure local families get fed. Let's learn all

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Speaker 1: about this now. Jeff is on the show. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so so much for the time. I would love to

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Speaker 1: hear the story. This is a year's long story about

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Speaker 1: Cansta calcium and how you made this a reality.

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Speaker 2: It actually started about oh ten or eleven years ago

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Speaker 2: when I was working. I worked for local supermarket chain,

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Speaker 2: and what I would do was I would give and

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Speaker 2: the need of food pantry gift certificates to go to

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Speaker 2: milk and they could go to any Roach Brothers or

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Speaker 2: Subway Farm supermarket and pick up a half a gallon

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Speaker 2: of milk. But I was working at that time, so

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Speaker 2: I was doing it out of my own pocket. So

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Speaker 2: around eight years ago I retired. I was having my

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Speaker 2: first grandson. I retired to take care of him, and

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Speaker 2: at the same time, up at the Needham Transfer Station,

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Speaker 2: the Boy Scouts in the late nineties had built this

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Speaker 2: shed to collect all the redeemable items that the people

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Speaker 2: from the town that need them would leave. So they

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Speaker 2: did it for years and then right around just before

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Speaker 2: COVID started, Sandy Robinson and nine that was the DPW

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Speaker 2: Department of Needham and expressed our interest in taking over

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Speaker 2: the shed. And the idea was to take all those

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Speaker 2: redeemables and put the money and it would go directly

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Speaker 2: to the food pantry, so it would be which was

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Speaker 2: kind of narrowed there to my hot since I was

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Speaker 2: a grocery guy and I thought I kind of thought

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Speaker 2: it was a good thing. So the milk, like I said,

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Speaker 2: started when I was doing it on my own. Then

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Speaker 2: what we did is my family donated two commercial refrigerators

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Speaker 2: so that they could put them into the food pantry,

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Speaker 2: and then we would just deliver half towns of milk

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Speaker 2: directly to the food pantry so that the clients didn't

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Speaker 2: have to go make a second step to get a

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Speaker 2: half a gallon of milk. When we first started, they

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Speaker 2: had no milk. It was all chef shelf stable milk.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I was always brought up and milk

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Speaker 2: and how important it is and their clients and the

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Speaker 2: clients were looking for this milk. So we decided, okay,

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Speaker 2: we'll start this program. So the DPW was all for it.

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Speaker 2: They said, it sounds like a great idea. Just maintained

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Speaker 2: the shed and it said. I was a little slow

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Speaker 2: because it was hard to get people aware of the program.

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Speaker 2: And then COVID hit and they shut it down because

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Speaker 2: when COVID first came out, no one could realize if

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Speaker 2: you could get COVID from touching cans, So they shut

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Speaker 2: the whole thing down for about two or three months,

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Speaker 2: and then after that they gradually opened it back up

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Speaker 2: when they realized that it was safe to do so.

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Speaker 2: A little after late twenty nineteen is when it really

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Speaker 2: started in Earnest and then it started to pick up.

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Speaker 2: The Needum Community Council were sending out flyers, we were

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Speaker 2: sending out notifications to the need of residents about this

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Speaker 2: cancer counseling program and how it was going to go.

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Speaker 2: And it took us about a year and a half,

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Speaker 2: but we reached our first million and then from there

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Speaker 2: we took it and that really that really got a

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Speaker 2: pretty good posting. So then then we started to pick

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Speaker 2: it up and I had I had mostly family members

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Speaker 2: at that point helping me. So basically what happens is

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Speaker 2: we have a chance it's a shed and then we

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Speaker 2: have these co Mingo containers that that the facility has,

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Speaker 2: and we put these big green construction valves around by

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Speaker 2: these com Mingo containers, and then the the Needium residents

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Speaker 2: would put all their deposit cans, plastic and bottles into

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Speaker 2: these green containers. But it was getting too much for

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Speaker 2: just my family, so then we went to the high

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Speaker 2: school and we got a bunch of high school kids

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Speaker 2: that needed their community service house. So they were great.

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Speaker 2: They start, they started coming in, they were great. You know,

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Speaker 2: they were mostly weekends because you know, they had stuff

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Speaker 2: to do during the week. One of my favorite ones

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Speaker 2: was this girl, Mazie Burger. And when she started with me,

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Speaker 2: she was I think she was thirteen or fourteen. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: she started and she did her about midst the project

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Speaker 2: with me. And in the town of Needham A there's

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Speaker 2: a junior high school called Pollard and she lived right

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Speaker 2: by that Pollard School. So how she started was she

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Speaker 2: went to every house within four neighborhoods of her house

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Speaker 2: and knocked her on the door, and anyone that would

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Speaker 2: listen to her, she'd explain the program to him, and

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Speaker 2: the one that didn't, she'd just leave a flyer with them.

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Speaker 2: About three weeks so what she said to them is,

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Speaker 2: you can leave these at the transfer station. I happened

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Speaker 2: to collect them at my house at the end of

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Speaker 2: the driveway and May and then May he said, you

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Speaker 2: can either do that or I'm going to set it

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Speaker 2: up at my house. You can live at my house

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Speaker 2: or call me and I'll come pick them up. So

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Speaker 2: three weeks after she starts this program. Her parents would

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Speaker 2: come down Saturdays in two caves filled with classic bags

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Speaker 2: and Majie collected from thost four neighborhoods. It was awesome.

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Speaker 2: It was awesome. So that got to be too That

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Speaker 2: got to be too much. So she said, you know,

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Speaker 2: from now on, just bring him to the transfer station,

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Speaker 2: mister Deneen. And she's still been with me. You know,

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Speaker 2: she's been there four or five years. She has all

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Speaker 2: the community service hours she needs to get out of

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Speaker 2: college for granted.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I was gonna say she's set when it comes

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Speaker 1: to community service. She's done it at this point.

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Speaker 2: She brought her friends and they've been great. Like I said,

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Speaker 2: I had my family members. I have a little side note.

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Speaker 2: I had my oldest grandson is eight, and when we

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Speaker 2: turned three million cans, he came down to the facility

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Speaker 2: because they were doing a little peace on us and

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Speaker 2: he was talking amazing And afterwards there's a quiet moment.

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Speaker 2: He comes over to me and he says, Papa, he goes,

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Speaker 2: pretty soon, I'm going to have to start to help you.

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Speaker 2: And I said, that's a great idea. He said, when

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Speaker 2: do you think that's going to happen? He says, when

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Speaker 2: I'm thirteen or fourteen years old, he goes, the only problement,

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Speaker 2: You'll be dead by that.

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Speaker 1: Oh, out of the mouths of babes.

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Speaker 2: I'm telling you when I'm going to die. I know.

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Speaker 1: Who knew you had a psychic in the family.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, it is so funny. He such a

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Speaker 2: good kid. They actually do come to me sometimes when

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Speaker 2: I go to pick up the milk, I bring my

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Speaker 2: grandsons with me and then we pick up the milk

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Speaker 2: at the store. We bring it over to the food pantry.

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Speaker 2: We put in the refrigerator so they can kind of

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Speaker 2: see how the whole process works.

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Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, let's talk about that process actually, because

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Speaker 1: I'd want to learn more about So you take the

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Speaker 1: cans yourself. Either they come to your house or people

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Speaker 1: bring them to the recycling and transfer station. So where

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Speaker 1: do you bring the cans to turn them in to

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Speaker 1: get the money?

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Speaker 2: It varies. There's about three different locations. The main one

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Speaker 2: is this place over in West rox We. It's a

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Speaker 2: liquor store, okay, and they have they have machines, so

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Speaker 2: we're hand feeding these in one by one. Oh, and

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Speaker 2: it's it's quite it's quite a process. So basically what

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Speaker 2: happens is the Needham residents drop their stuff off at

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Speaker 2: the at the transfer station. Then we take it and

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Speaker 2: we sort it by aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles,

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Speaker 2: and then we bag it up and then we bring

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Speaker 2: it over to that liquor store and we redeem them

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Speaker 2: in the machines and then we have so now we

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Speaker 2: have money. And then what I do is three sometimes

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Speaker 2: four times a week, I go to a local supermarket.

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Speaker 2: I pick up anywhere from thirty six to fifty four

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Speaker 2: half gallons a day, and then I go to the

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Speaker 2: food pantry and I loaded, I loaded into the food

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Speaker 2: pantry refrigerators.

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Speaker 1: And you're a grocery store guy, so you know what

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Speaker 1: to get right, and you got to be on great

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Speaker 1: terms with everybody at the grocery stores around Needham.

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Speaker 2: Oh exactly, well, I actually I worked with local chain.

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Speaker 2: They had a couple of stores based in Needham, and

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Speaker 2: so I do I kind of know everybody. And then

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Speaker 2: it's been awesome at the at the transfer station, the

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Speaker 2: amount of people that I've met and friendly people and

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Speaker 2: really you know, giving us a pep talk to keep

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Speaker 2: on going, and can't believe you're doing this and so

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Speaker 2: it's it's kind of it's kind of a good thing.

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Speaker 2: And one of the things that actually made me do

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Speaker 2: this is my mother was a was a firm believer

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Speaker 2: in giving back to the community, and she would have

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Speaker 2: loved this program. She would end up there switting bottles

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Speaker 2: and cans with me to make sure that the program worked.

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Speaker 2: So it's so it came from that my first influx

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Speaker 2: into uh candy dumpsion. I was a boy scout and

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Speaker 2: this is a long time ago. This isn't the nineteen

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Speaker 2: seventy seventy one, okay, and back then deposits were only

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Speaker 2: two cents, but they had a bottling can drive and

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Speaker 2: I went out and I beat all the other troops

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Speaker 2: by myself a.

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Speaker 1: Look at you. Okay, yeah, I'd say.

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Speaker 2: Back then, they didn't have a badge for that, but

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Speaker 2: they made one up and you have a gout with

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Speaker 2: them a little.

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Speaker 1: You know, soda can on it or something that's impressed good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty it was pretty good. Yeah, So

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Speaker 2: we did we did that. Part of the reason I

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Speaker 2: do it is I'm a firm believer in recycling, and

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Speaker 2: this is just this is twofold. This is getting money

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Speaker 2: directly to the food pantry and it's getting waste out

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Speaker 2: of the the waste fream. So it's it's to me,

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Speaker 2: it's a double wind. Yeah, so I.

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Speaker 1: Like it, and it's in your DNA. It seems not

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Speaker 1: just to help people, but also to do it through

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Speaker 1: collecting cans. I mean, this is something you've been doing

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Speaker 1: this your whole life, you could.

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Speaker 2: Say pretty much, yeah, pretty much. It's a good thing.

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Speaker 2: And like I said when I when I retired, it

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Speaker 2: kind of shortly thereafter the boys go to giving up

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Speaker 2: on the shed and it was just they tried to

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Speaker 2: have you know, were different organizations could do it, you know,

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Speaker 2: for a week at a time or two weeks at

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Speaker 2: a time. But it is not a glamorous job. You know.

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Speaker 2: You get some that you know, a lot of people

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Speaker 2: are really good. They empty them some don't, you know,

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Speaker 2: and you don't realize it, you know, until you're dumping

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Speaker 2: them and it's on your shoes, hands or whatever. It's bad.

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Speaker 2: So we've got a little better system now to identify those.

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Speaker 2: Like I said, the high school the high school kids

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Speaker 2: doing great well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because they're young and you can make them do

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Speaker 1: the dirty stuff. At this point exactly right, you know,

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Speaker 1: you have to the stuff spills, and you know, people

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Speaker 1: throw trash in with the recycling, and you know, it

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Speaker 1: can get a little bit gnarly at times, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: very noally.

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Speaker 2: And maze these parents they get into the program too,

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Speaker 2: and they come up and they don't help every weekend,

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Speaker 2: but every you know, maybe one weekend a month they

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Speaker 2: come up and help.

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Speaker 1: It's got to be a very rewarding feeling for you

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Speaker 1: knowing that, especially right now when times are tough and

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Speaker 1: the cost of living is super high. You know this

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Speaker 1: now more than ever, is really important to be doing

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Speaker 1: for your community.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm almost a need them lifer, and

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Speaker 2: you know, to me, need Them has always been a

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Speaker 2: very well to do community. And if you can check

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Speaker 2: the data with the Need of Community Council. But I

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Speaker 2: believe at this point here they're serving three hundred and

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Speaker 2: seventy six families that need them, which is over fourteen

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Speaker 2: hundred people.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Think about that in the town I need them, which

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Speaker 2: is a very well to do community. And they keep that.

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Speaker 2: When COVID came, it went through the roof. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the amount of people that needed it, it just went

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Speaker 2: up and up and up and up. But now they

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Speaker 2: they're having the same problems. You know, the boss some

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Speaker 2: food pantry where they get you know, some of their

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Speaker 2: food cases of food. They get their their budget get

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Speaker 2: cut by two million dollars, and you know, unless someone

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Speaker 2: steps up and gives them two million dollars, that's going

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Speaker 2: to be it's going to be tough for them. What

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Speaker 2: I was always amazed that at the need them food

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Speaker 2: bantry was they get no help from the town and

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Speaker 2: they get no help from the stake. So it's all

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Speaker 2: private donations. So what we do with the money is

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Speaker 2: the first thing that we buy is milk, and then

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Speaker 2: the second thing we do is we buy cases of food.

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Speaker 2: So we go in there when I when I started.

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Speaker 2: You can check the percentages with the community council if

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Speaker 2: they want, but it was seventy five percent of the

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Speaker 2: items that they were giving out in their facility with

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Speaker 2: cans and boxes and the beans, boxes of rice, that

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Speaker 2: kind of stuff. So, like I said, my family donated

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Speaker 2: two commercial refrigerators and one commercial freezer. Sixty seven percent

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Speaker 2: of the stuff that goes out of the facility now

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Speaker 2: fresh meat, fresh vegetable eggs, milk, So it's all this

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Speaker 2: pershable stuff. I love that that was you know that

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Speaker 2: they weren't getting before. When I the gol that runs

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Speaker 2: at Katerina, she goes up and she does a great

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Speaker 2: tool when I bring my volunteers up there, and she explained,

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Speaker 2: Jess exactly what I told you. You know, it used

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Speaker 2: to be boxes and cans, and now it's it's all perishables,

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Speaker 2: which is well sixty seven percent perishables, which is which

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Speaker 2: is awesome. Yeah, you know those are the most expensive items,

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Speaker 2: so it's you know, so they're helping those families were

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Speaker 2: the most expensive items. So it gives you, It gives

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Speaker 2: you a great feeling just knowing that you can help

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Speaker 2: you know, those kinds of people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well let's talk then about let's go over the

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Speaker 1: basics about how people can help you out. So you

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Speaker 1: can drop off cans both at your house and if

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Speaker 1: you're a need them resident, where do you go to

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Speaker 1: bring the recyclables?

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Speaker 2: Okay, it's up it's up on Central Lab. It's called

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Speaker 2: the RTS station Okay, and it's opened Tuesday through Saturday

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Speaker 2: from seven to four. And then when you when you

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Speaker 2: come into this facility, if you take an immediate rite there,

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Speaker 2: you'll see a shed we have a big sign on

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Speaker 2: says cancer calcium. Okay, they can leave them at that.

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Speaker 2: They can leave them at that shed. Or there's five

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Speaker 2: blue combing or containers around the around the property and

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Speaker 2: we have gleak buckets right side of that. They all

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Speaker 2: mark with cancer calcium. All they have to do is

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Speaker 2: dump them in there.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 2: Then, like I said, we take them and sort them.

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Speaker 2: And the way we go, we have we have eight

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Speaker 2: businesses that call us. They save them for us, and

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Speaker 2: they call us when you know, when it's time for pickup,

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Speaker 2: and we and we just go pick it up.

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Speaker 1: Oh easy enough, all right. Yeah, that's what I like

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Speaker 1: to hear. And again if people can't, if they're not

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Speaker 1: need them residents, but say somebody is listening and I

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Speaker 1: don't know Debtum or maybe in Boston, and they're like, okay,

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Speaker 1: I've got all these cans, have a Seltzer habit or something,

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Speaker 1: and I want to get rid of these cans for

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Speaker 1: a good cause. Where can they bring them?

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Speaker 2: They will let them bring them right into the Needum

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Speaker 2: transfer station. Good Okay, Well, if they want, if they want,

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Speaker 2: they can, they can get a hold of me. And

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Speaker 2: my information is on the Needum community council page. Yes,

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Speaker 2: and we will come get them.

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Speaker 1: Oh beautiful, even better, Yes.

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Speaker 2: It's even it's even better. Right, Like I said, we

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Speaker 2: have eight businesses that do that now. And I talked

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Speaker 2: to two ladies last week and they bring me their

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Speaker 2: stuff all the time, and they said, we've gone to

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Speaker 2: our businesses and they're going to start saving them for

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Speaker 2: you and we'll call you when we have you know,

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Speaker 2: when we have a big bagfall beautiful. So it's basically

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Speaker 2: it's basically just wood and mouth is is our best.

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Speaker 2: That's that's how we get our best bang for the buck,

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Speaker 2: so to speak. And when we went from in when

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Speaker 2: we reached three million cans, we were actually on Channel

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Speaker 2: five news. Yeah, okay, they did a piece on us

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Speaker 2: and they gave us three minutes in the five thirty news,

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Speaker 2: which was outstanding. And so it's a Needham television station

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Speaker 2: with a lot of need of methidents listening. And I'm sorry,

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Speaker 2: it's not that No, that's okay.

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Speaker 1: We love our friends at CVB. It's totally fine, okay.

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Speaker 2: So that helped tremendously. So it used to take me

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Speaker 2: about fifteen maybe sixteen months to get a million cans,

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Speaker 2: but we were determined to see if we could do

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Speaker 2: it the fastest ever this year, and it only took

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Speaker 2: us thirteen months to get to the next million.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know what, hopefully we can help you get

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Speaker 1: to four million pretty soon. You've got to be pretty

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Speaker 1: close at this point.

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Speaker 2: Well, four million will be a week from today, okay,

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Speaker 2: if my instruments are correct. Okay, and then you know,

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Speaker 2: I never I never dreamed that we'll go this high

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Speaker 2: because it's a you know, it's like I said, it's

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Speaker 2: a dirty process, but it's worthwhile. We see all the

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Speaker 2: people that it's helping. The people of the food pant

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Speaker 2: have been awesome. You know, they go over bend over

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Speaker 2: backwards to help all these people. And you know sometimes

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Speaker 2: you know, Katerina will give me some items say, you know,

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Speaker 2: we could really use this and really use that. And

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Speaker 2: the latest item was sugar and sugar. And now we

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Speaker 2: give them one in two pound blocks of the sugar

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Speaker 2: every week. Beautiful, And you'd be amazed at how fast

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Speaker 2: this stuff goes. You know, we're talking three hundred and

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Speaker 2: seventy six families. It doesn't take on.

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Speaker 1: Right and growing kids. I mean, yeah, they eat a lot,

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Speaker 1: exactly a lot.

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Speaker 2: They definitely did and Cereal. You know, it's like, oh

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Speaker 2: my god, you know Cereal. I don't eat seal anymore,

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Speaker 2: but when I was a kid, I ate it all

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Speaker 2: of that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you and me both. Yeah, I shoveled that stuff down.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I like it.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's good stuff. And you know what kids have

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Speaker 1: to eat and growing families need this help and I'm

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Speaker 1: just grateful you're there to do it for them. And

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Speaker 1: so again it's the Needum Transfer Station, the r t S.

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Speaker 1: You can bring your cans. It doesn't matter what kind

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Speaker 1: of can it is, as long as it's an aluminum can.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it doesn't matter if it's beer or

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Speaker 1: seltzer or whatever. Just bring the cans. Bring the can,

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Speaker 1: bring the cans. All right, great, Well, you know it's

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Speaker 1: great having you on the show. Thank you so much,

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Speaker 1: Jeff for all the work you're doing. And again, if

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Speaker 1: people want to get in touch with you, the need

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Speaker 1: Them Community Council page.

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Speaker 2: Correct, Needum Community Council. I think they put it under

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Speaker 2: the food pantry page.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Jeff, thank you for the time and it's great

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Speaker 1: to have you on the show, and all the best

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Speaker 1: as you push past four million, and hopefully five million

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Speaker 1: will come faster than that.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's the goal.

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Speaker 1: All right, Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join

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Speaker 1: me again next week for another edition of the show.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio