Cans, bottles help woman buy Christmas gifts for those in need

Jan. 7, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
DanielleE@thereminder.com

AGAWAM – Despite being on a limited budget, one Agawam resident found a way to give back to those in need.

Joyce Dolat said she began collecting cans and bottles a while ago after seeing them all over at her apartment complex.

During the holiday season she began collecting cans and bottles with a goal in mind: to return enough to buy her grandson a cell phone for Christmas. However, when he was gifted one from his mother, Dolat said she decided to use the money to buy gifts for kids in need.

“I had started collecting them and then was thinking about how Christmas was coming. Every year I take them from the Giving Tree at the church, but when I saw them at the bank I took four tags, and kept collecting [cans and bottles],” she told Reminder Publishing.

She collects cans and bottles both from her own recycling, but other people’s as well. This, she said, has been looked down on by some people.

“Some people frown on it, but I don’t really care what they think because I’m doing it for a reason,” she said.

Dolat said in one instance someone took her photo and put it on a community Facebook page with a negative remark. However, after the photo was posted she was flooded with people wanting to donate their cans and bottles to her.

“I had lots of messages. Some woman came from Chicopee with two gigantic trash bags full, a Westfield woman also had a bag,” she said.

With the deposits from her collections alone, she was able to buy Christmas gifts for four local children in need.

“I found I got so many of them, I got enough to buy four kids gifts. They all got a toy and pajamas,” she said.

After receiving donations of cans and bottles, Dolat said she was able to buy socks to give to homeless in the area.

“We have a man at church that started a ministry with homeless under the bridge, and he’s going to make toiletries bags,” she explained. “[The donations] gave me like $2. I got enough to buy two big packs of socks, enough socks to give to 30 guys.”

Dolat said despite finances being tight, she’s always found a way to give back because she needed help at one point in her life.

“I was a single mom and there were a couple years I needed to go to Salvation Army. I was gifted that way, so I try to give back,” she said.

She continued, “Even if I can only do one child I always try to give back, but I could do four kids because of the cans and bottles. It’s an extra little blessing.”

Dolat said she plans to continue collecting cans and bottles to give back in different ways in the future.

“I’m going to continue doing this and giving back where I can,” she said.

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