Olsen Canning

9/28/12

Trav and I were by ourselves today for Friday morning canning....so we decided to take Olsen with us.

He gets SUPER excited when he rides in the truck! I thought it would be funny to try and get a video of his excitement. HUGE failure--he wasn't cooperating! He was a bit too excited and I had to rerecord, which caused his excitement to not really show in the video. 

When he is excited or knows he gets to go for a "ride", he runs from the front door to the living room super fast several times. It's the funniest! His face gets all windblown and he has one mission-- to run fast back and forth until he gets in the truck. LOL! 

Here's the second video of Olsen Canning. I'm going to try and get a better video of him someday:}

New Territory With LOTS of Treasure

8/2/12

We are at it again---biking and canning! Kates and I decided to hit some new territory before we collected from our Thursday regular route. 

This new territory was a HUGE success! We traveled down one street and found so many cans alongside the road. Our first large collection, our treasure, was found in this wooded area. We saw a can, stopped, and I yelled out our "canning motto catchphrase": Where there is one can.....there are ________ more! **Fill in the blank with how many more cans there are:) In this spot--we found 29 +1 cans! So a total of 30!!! We also found a mattress and a shoe. Unfortunately, we can't recycle those:)

You can see several cans just laying there in this wooded area!! SUPER treasure:)

 Our second large collection was found near a culvert. We saw some white bags in some overgrown plants--this is when I told Kates about how Trav and I found 63 in some trash bags once (click HERE for that post). I also told her about how I dance in the street if we find large numbers like that:) We tore through the bags and found 59 +2 cans!!! A total of 61 cans! HOOOOOOORAY!

Here's a pic of the white trash bags--you never know what you'll find, but it's worth looking;)

We also found a vacuum and Christmas tree near a trash can on this one street! There's always something fun happening on our rides! 

After an hour on this street, we agreeed to head home (plus, we ran out of bags!!). On our way home, we found another friend that has given us permission to collect weekly!!! We also found a yellow broom (that almost looks brand new!)!!! This is our new C4C trailer broom (our other one broke--read about this broom HERE). SOOOOOOO exciting!  Again--we always find something fun and have a blast while canning/riding!

Miles: 10.37
Bags: 5 and a broom

Canning Canning Canning

7/30/12

I don't have very many pictures from tonight's collection....we were busy gathering cans and going around on our Monday Night route that I forgot to take pics! Canning canning canning--we are focused on one thing:)

After our route, the "canning crew" (consisting of Canning President Kates and Canning Princess Tami, along with myself) decided to pick up the cans from the C4C trailer at the church. Here's a picture of the overflowing trailer!!! 

**NOTE: Jared (Kates' husband) and Trav were inside the church for a media meeting while we emptied the trailer. We did it all by ourselves--well, the guys did meet us out there and helped a little bit:)

The truck was completely full of bags and cans!!! We dumped them in our front yard (probably not the greatest place to store them!). Here's the pile of cans-- these cans still need to be crushed, which means there should be a canning party soon! 

Sorry this pic is so dark--we "can" until the sun goes down:) 

Canning & Crafting

7/28/12


We had a different type of "canning party" today--some of my friends came over and crafted some THANK YOU cards for our friends and neighbors who donate cans to Cans4Christ on a weekly basis. We had a great time and created 7 cards!!! I can't wait to deliver these special gifts:) 

Pictured: Justine H., Katy (Canning President), and Sophie age 7!! 

A Long Ride but Mostly For Fun

7/27/12


I've been out of town for most of this week, and so our canning/biking rides have been put on hold (again!). So on Friday night, Trav and I decided to go on a "fun ride". We rode over to our friend's house and met up with Jarred and Isaiah half way there. 

I'm usually prepared on our bike rides--I carry bug spray, extra bags, gloves, kleenex, hand sanitizer, the grabber, and more in my basket...just in case we find some cans. So even though we were just "riding", I had Trav use the grabber to get some cans in the culvert and along side the road. It was a bit difficult to get these cans because the ground is flooded due to the daily rain we've been receiving. There are several cans that we couldn't reach--so we will be riding over to get those cans as soon as the ground dries up! 

 

Miles: 10.38
Cans/Bags collected: one (not bad for a fun ride)

Surprises...

7/22/12

We cannot thank you enough for all your help with Cans4Christ! We are so thankful for your donations, prayers, and support as we gather and collect cans for our building campaign!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes we get so many cans we are overwhelmed--in a good way:) And sometimes we find "surprises" in the can bags/donations. Unfortunately, these surprises cannot be recycled.

These "surprises" were found in our last donation pick-up. Sometimes we get full bags of these things. 

Items that we CANNOT recycle: 

• cat food cans
• soup or vegetable cans
• tuna cans
• aluminum foil (although it's "aluminum", it cannot be recycled)
• aluminum/tin cooking containers
• newspapers
• food wrappers, etc.
• juice boxes

So what do we, Cans4Christ, collect??? ALUMINUM CANS! Any aluminum can--soda, pop, tea, etc. We don't care what brand or what liquid it once had inside....we just need CANS:) 

photo credit

Again, we are so thankful that you are giving to our can ministry--and we are thankful that you want to help! So please keep collecting and donating aluminum cans for the First Alliance Church of Port Charlotte, FL building campaign.

If you would like to donate weekly--you can find our Cans4Christ trailer at the FAC campus. Or email us {cans4christ at gmail dot com} to set up a donation pick-up!!! 

Crushing Party!!!!!!!!

7/22/12


Part of the "Canning Clan" gathered today for a small "crushing party". Crushing the cans is super important! If we don't crush the cans--it's hard to stack the bags at the recycling center, and sometimes the cans get full of ants/water/etc. We crush the cans to make sure they are completely empty and properly recycled.

The cans we crush during these parties come from our C4C trailer at FAC, as well as our regular route pick-ups during the week. 

Crushing parties are a lot of work, but super fun. We empty out all the bags and just stomp on all the cans. Sometimes we use the can crusher.

The best part of our crushing parties is getting together for dinner afterwards! Usually we have hot dogs...but this time, I decided to get fancy:) I made some Yumma Setta, salads, and more. I've got to treat my canning friends right or they won't come back to crush:) 

I should share that I'm not the only one who cooks for our canning dinners--Kates made the most amazing deserts for this party! MMMM! 

Miles: none but I bet we crushed close to 1000 cans! 

We Can Be Seen....

7/22/12


Cans4Christ information, pictures, and more can be seen in several locations....

• We have a trailer on the church campus for drop-offs/donations any time of the week. **The C4C trailer is found near the playground and clothes drop-off bin. 

• We can be seen around neighborhoods biking and finding cans along side the road.

• C4C information and pictures can be found in the breezeway/foyer of First Alliance Church Port Charlotte (20444 Midway Blvd., Port Charlotte, FL). 

View this presentation and slideshow each Sunday in the breezeway of FAC. 

• Cans4Christ can also be found on our blog HERE. I enjoy posting what C4C has been up to and all of our adventures canning and crushing.

So there you have it--several ways to find us in the community, at church, and on the web:)


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THANKS so much for stopping by today! THANKS for praying for our can ministry and for collecting your cans for our building campaign!