Volunteer Spotlight

It’s a Doggone Way to Recycle

There’s more than one way to recycle a newspaper.  Just ask Ann Saunders, a Retired and Senior Volunteer Program member at Laurel Wood Apartments.  Frustrated at seeing all her fellow tenant’s newspapers going in the dumpster, she started a one-woman recycling effort.  Her program has now gone to the dogs.
Ann Saunders with her newspaper recycling bin

When Saunders first initiated her newspaper recycling program, she began collecting the newspapers and storing them in her personal storage area at the complex.  After collecting several days worth of newspapers, Laurel Wood Maintenance Staff Person Carl Thompson would take the papers to a general recycling location.  This worked fine at first.  Then her recycling initiative took off and there were too many papers for Thompson to handle. 

Rescue came in the form of Jaimie Mulvey, another RSVP volunteer and professional dog breeder and judge.  Mulvey’s beagles could make quite the mess in her basement.  A covering of newspaper on the floor helped with clean-up, so Mulvey had been on the look out for newspaper to put in their pens.  When she caught wind of Suander’s dilemma, she offered to pick up the newspapers and “recycle” them in her dogs’ pens.  Ann was happy, Carl was happy, and Jaimie was very happy.  We don’t know about the beagles, but we think they’re happy too.

Thompson & Mulvey, loading newspapers into her van.

The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program will express their appreciation for volunteers such as Annie and Jaimie  at their annual Volunteer Appreciation Event, May 1, 2008 at the new Land-of-Sky Regional Council office on New Leicester Highway.  If you’d like to learn how to become an RSVP volunteer, call 828-261-6622 or email connie@landofsky.org.

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