SOUTH PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) — For most of us, it's time to cash in our bottles and cans when we've filled a garbage bag with a few dozen empties. But for Larry Bowden, it's not worth the trip to the redemption center until he's filled an entire truck.
After squirreling them away for more than a decade, Bowden had collected over 340,000 returnables. And when he redeemed them with the CLYNK program, all of those nickel deposits added up to $17,000.
Rather than keep it all for himself, Bowden decided to give the money to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Mass. He made the donation on Wednesday, Sept. 19 in South Portland to honor the memory of his friend, Leo Verrill, who was a member of the service organization in Maine.
"We kept seeing the money every month, and it was adding up and adding up," Bowden said. "And when he [Leo] passed away, I said, 'Do I keep it, what I got, or go for more?' I said, 'I'm going to go for more.'"
And that's still not the end of the fundraising. Between Sept. 19 and Oct. 15, the CLYNK program and Hannaford Supermarkets will match any further Shriners donations through CLYNK up to $7,500.