Frankfort Street Department crews, Moose Lodge #7 members, the women of the Moose Lodge and Werner & Son, Inc. have teamed up to collect plastic bottle caps that will be turned into benches for children at Mooseheart, a residential childcare facility just west of Chicago.According to Street Superintendent Jason Forsythe, crews have been donating their plastic bottle caps and the caps collected via the City’s recycling effort towards this initiative.
“On March 17, all bottle caps will be picked up and taken to Green Tree Plastics in Evansville where benches will be made for the 215 kids at Mooseheart. We are pleased to be able to partner with our local Moose members and Werner & Sons, Inc. for such a worthy cause of helping children.
“While we know our residents include their plastic bottle caps in with their recycling each Wednesday, if anyone has additional caps they would like to donate, they can bring them to the Street Department Monday- Friday from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. through Friday, March 16,” Forsythe said.
According to Moose Lodge #7 Administrator Ron Bradley, Mooseheart is on a 1,000-acre campus just outside of Chicago that includes Child City, a home for children in need from infancy through high school graduation. Free of charge, children are fed, clothed and educated at Child City through Moose lodge sponsorships.
“Each house has 10 children with two adults. The Indiana house at Mooseheart was built with Hoosier Moose lodge members’ dues. The house is more than 5,000 square-feet and we recently made a $1 million investment to completely update it, including making it fire-proof.
“At Mooseheart, high school seniors who maintain a certain GPA are sent to college tuition-free thanks to the generosity of Moose members. No child at Mooseheart has ever had a felony,” Bradley said. “Indiana Day in September there involves a picnic with all Hoosier Moose lodges, with gifts, food and phone cards for the children.”
Frankfort’s Moose Lodge #7 is the oldest Moose lodge in the world, having celebrated its 125th anniversary last October. Lodges #1-#6 lost their charters early on.
Green Tree manufactures environmentally-friendly products using 100% recycled plastics with no hazardous chemicals, non-organic fillers and non-organic color concentrates.