FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:

Patty Davis

Marketing and Special Events Coordinator

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Oregon

1700 NE Purcell Blvd. Bend, OR 97701-6021

(541) 318-4950 Fax: (541) 318-4994

pdavis@bendbroadband.com

http://rmhcofcentraloregon.org/

October 12, 2007

On Tuesday, October 30^th the Ronald McDonald House in Bend will be presented with a gift of one million pop tabs collected by the children and community members of Lakeview, Oregon since 1996. The event will take place at 9:40 a.m. at Lakeview Senior High School’s gymnasium, Honker Court, located at 906 South 3^rd St. in Lakeview, Oregon. The presentation by Principal Will Cahill and Math teacher, Debbie Simontacchi, will include all 4^th through 6^th graders, high school students, as well as local business owners, and representatives from the Lakeview community who aided in the tab collecting. Zak Boone, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Oregon, and Patty Davis, Marketing and Special Events Coordinator, will be on hand to personally receive the pop tabs and share with the students exactly what and whom this fundraising effort will support.

The goal to collect one million pop tabs was the brainchild of math teacher Debbie Simontacchi whose students gathered, counted and bagged the ever increasing pop tab collection that has been on display at Freemont-Hay Elementary School, hanging from the ceiling, for many years, waiting for the completion of the goal. However, what began as an exercise in counting multiples of ten quickly became a community-wide event that focused on the benefits of recycling, shared community service and the spirit of giving. As a result, the community is still gathering tabs to this day!

Ronald McDonald House Charities has collected pop tabs for many years and these small items have offered Ronald McDonald Houses across the country a significant source of revenue. Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Oregon regularly recycles its donations at Schnitzer Steel of Bend. It generally takes 1,267 pop tabs to equal one pound of recycled aluminum. Although the exact amount raised by recycling one million tabs is yet to be determined it is estimated that the Ronald McDonald House in Bend will normally receive $450. However, in light of the dedicated efforts of Freemont-Hay Elementary students, Schnitzer Steel has announced that they will not only guarantee $500 for the one million tabs, but will DOUBLE the amount to equal $1,000! In addition, Schnitzer Steel plans to reward Freemont-Hay Elementary students in the future with an ice cream party to celebrate their efforts. A Schnitzer Steel representative will be present at the pop tab presentation in Lakeview.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of Central Oregon’s only Ronald McDonald House®, a home-away-from-home for families of pediatric patients who travel to Bend for medical treatment, as well as women with high-risk pregnancies who must remain close to emergency medical care. Since opening its doors October 1, 1997, the Bend area Ronald McDonald House® has served over 2,300 families throughout Central and Eastern Oregon, other areas of the USA and even other parts of the world who find themselves dealing with a pediatric medical crisis while here in Bend. In 2006 alone, Lake County families spent more than 17 days at the Ronald McDonald House in Bend.

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