The Pennies Continue to Add up in Airdrie

David Loewen has been a busy man for the last three years. He's almost 90 years old and has been spending his time collecting bottles to raise money for charities. After developing a long list of people who have regularly donated bottles to worthy causes, Mr. Loewen is going to be retiring and passing on his legacy to another.

Mr. David Loewen started collecting bottles as a way to get more exercise a few years ago. He went from door-to-door to collect the empty bottles, cans and cartons and donated all of the funds to charity. As the word started to spread, he developed a list of more than 100 clients. More than 20 charities have profited from his efforts including food banks, the Mustard Seed and many others. After raising at least $35,000 through his recycling efforts, Mr. Loewen will be passing on the torch to Mr. Jim McPhee.

Mr. McPhee saw an ad that  was placed by Mr. Loewen and offer to take up the collecting himself. Mr. McPhee runs his own charity for backpacks for kids. All of the profits will be put towards helping children in Alberta and there will be further efforts to expand the list further. If you are interested in contributing to this worthy cause you can contact Stephen’s Backpacks for further details.

As for Jim McPhee, who started this whole project, he will continue to help those in need as best he can. We certainly wish him all the best for the future and salute him for making Airdrie proud. It's not easy to pull a community together but Mr. McPhee certainly did his part to make things happen. Not only did he help the charities but he also contributed to a greener Airdrie through his recycling project.