Students and classes are coming together to support a fellow student suffering from leukemia by collecting plastic bottle caps.
Two sophomores started the program last month to collect the caps. For every 1,000 bottle caps collected, the student’s reward is a free chemotherapy treatment from Good Shepard Hospital. Normally, the average cost of one chemotherapy cancer treatment is $150,000.
The student, receiving the benefits of the donations chose not to be named and wishes to remain anonymous.
“I first heard about this opportunity when I was talking to a friend and they told me about this girl suffering from leukemia; we wanted to help,” Jenny Hovermann, sophomore, said. “We’ve been collecting [bottle caps] for about a month now, and we have already obtained around 3,000. I was shocked that something as simple as a bottle cap could save someone’s life.”
The collection for the plastic bottle caps has been an ongoing task for about a few months.
“Every two weeks I pick up the collected bottle caps,” Natalia Czachor, sophomore, said. “Then I bring them to my dad who drops them off to the home of the girl with leukemia.”
Hovermann and Czachor’s original goal was to collect 1,000 caps but they have collected close to 3,000 already.
“The collection started when we wanted to help my friend through her struggle with cancer,” Czachor said. “But each collection has been so successful that we are looking into donating the caps to other families in need as well.”
The actions of these two girls have created a chain reaction, promoting more teachers to get involved with the program.
“I’ve set up a collection bin in my classroom I’m substituting in for the rest of the year,” Joshua Johns, math substitute, said. “The cause is great, and a lot of teachers want to help.”
Hovermann and Czachor plan to ask every teacher to set up a collection bin in each of their classrooms.
“A couple of my teachers saw my friends and I collecting the bottle caps and wanted to help our cause,” Hovermann said. “When it comes down to it, it’s not hard to find someone in Lake Zurich who’s willing to help.”