Non-profits displayed at Community Support Day

Although resident turnout was minimal, nearly 45 non-profit organizations attended a Community Support Day event at Rotary Park Saturday.

The day’s event was designed to give residents a chance to see what types of charitable organizations are serving the community.

The organizations ranged from church groups to veterans organizations to children who created a way to make their own kind of contribution.

Eight-year-old Teddy LeMieux is one such child. LeMieux is an origami enthusiast who had been working on his art when he got the idea to sell some of them. He raised $2 one day which he took to his teacher at school and said that he wanted to give it to poor children.

Later, his friends Kate Faulkrod, 8, and Lonnie Waite, 6, got involved with making more art.

Their efforts eventually became a part of the Mexican Shoe Box charity, a Rotary Club sponsored effort that fills shoeboxes with goods then delivers them to poor children in Mexico.
Also in attendance was the Recycling Association of Maricopa.

Executive Director Gina D’abella stood before a table of distorted glass bottles with etched images of cats, flowers and inspirational sayings.

D’abella said that all of the artwork at her table was made from recycled glass. Bottles that were once used to hold wine, beer or soda are placed into a special kiln that melts the glass to make an object that is rough and bumpy on one side and flat on the other. It is the flat side that can be etched into art or converted in to a clock.

She said that converting bottles into art isn’t as new an idea as using recycled bottles. D’abella said that when she goes to art fairs and sees this type of work, she looks to see if they are using virgin bottles or recycled.

Another recycled item at her table were T-shirts made from 50 percent plastic and 50 percent reclaimed cotton. D’abella held up a plastic water bottle and said “these get shredded up and blended with cotton to make these,” as she held up on of the shirts.

D’abella said the cotton used in the shirts was recycled too. She said that when new T-shirts are made, they are cut from large pieces of cotton. The left over scraps are what can be reclaimed, blended and reused.