Raising the bar to support Ronald McDonald House

Oct. 20, 2004, was an ordinary fall day for Groton resident Brandi Buggs, but by the end of it, her son, Trevor Leaver, had been born into this world and not long thereafter placed into the NICU in a Syracuse hospital.

Buggs was traveling back and forth from Groton every day to be with her newborn son when someone told her about the Ronald McDonald House (RMH), where families whose children were hospitalized could find respite and lodging nearby.

When Buggs realized that RMH was just a small house with six guestrooms, and that she had transportation each day, she felt she “just couldn’t take one of those rooms from someone else who might need it more,” but she also felt motivated to do something to help the facility expand.

Buggs, the daughter of Carl and the late Sherry Jones, was born in Groton, moved to Moravia at age 4, studied computer science at Catawba College in North Carolina and returned to Groton in March 2000. Shortly thereafter, she began her job as a technical writer for Pall Trinity in Cortland, where she is still employed today.

At Pall, Buggs is part of a committee that sponsors a charity each month and is thrilled that September is RMH month. She loves helping to collect items on the RMH “wish list” from the employees at Pall.

In addition, Buggs became involved with Sallie Devlin through the Groton American Legion Post 800 Auxiliary, who spearheads a year-round fundraiser for the RMH by collecting pop tabs, which are the pieces of metal that open aluminum cans. Just like the can, the pop tab itself is recyclable, and the RMH collected the tabs to help generate additional income for the facility.

“I have been involved with the Legion Auxiliary for the past 42 years,” Buggs said. “I teamed right up with Sallie and her husband, Bud, and started collecting the tabs at Pall Trinity and local bars and restaurants and then making the yearly trip with them to deliver the tabs to RMH.”

When I first met Devlin in February 2017, they had just recently delivered 649,000 pop tabs that had been collected in Groton, which weighed in at 410 pounds. One pound is 1,267 pop tabs, and 1 pound was sold for approximately 60 cents.

This past June, Buggs was alerted that the RMH would no longer be accepting the pop tabs.

“I immediately went to the RMH website, saw that it was true, and I just cried and cried,” she said.

Once she dried those tears, Buggs did not want to lose the momentum of the tab collecting that had been going on these past 20 years, so she called Groton’s Teets & Son scrapyard and discovered the tabs could be recycled there, but at a considerably lesser amount of cash redemption.

“Teets & Son also has a location in Ithaca,” Buggs said. “When I called and spoke with Theresa at that office, she became my angel, suggesting I run a fundraiser to collect scrap metal that could be added to the pop tab collection.”

Buggs contacted Devlin about the idea, talked it through, put her fears behind her and got the ball, or should I say, “dumpster” rolling.

On Sept. 21, a 30-yard dumpster was delivered to Buggs’ property on Spring Street Extension, and she began going live on Facebook daily, letting the community know about the fundraiser, opening the opportunity for people to drop things off and offering to pick loads up from anyone who could not deliver themselves.

That turned into quite the endeavor. Buggs’ son, Trevor, that little baby in the NICU and now a junior at Groton High School, rallied some of his school friends, Joe Bishop, Brennan Brockway and Robbie Stephens, to help.

Buggs and “the boys” worked every day but Sunday for the following 14 days, making four or five trips a day to Cortland, Lansing, Moravia, Dryden, Ithaca, Homer and Groton, picking up loads and bringing them back to the dumpster.

They also had help from Deb Slaven and a group of boys she brought with her, as well as Jon and Janette Robbins and Janette’s father, Jim Basil.

By day 14, seven and a half of those 30-yard dumpsters had been filled, and they’d collected 775 pounds of batteries, 1,200 pounds of circuit boards and an old car, which was kindly delivered to Teets & Son by Donald and Patricia Poch of Lansing.

Buggs mentioned how gratifying it was to have so many people from whom they had collected smiling and happy, not just because they helped the cause, but to have the added bonus of getting their homes and properties cleaned up.

“And that isn’t even all of the story,” Buggs said. “Two individuals donated money for gas and lunches for the volunteers while we were making all those trips, a business donated $200 for the RMH, and another individual donated $100.”

Altogether, the project raised almost $3,700 for the RMH, and Buggs could not be happier.

“When I saw the amount, all I could do was cry all over again,” Buggs said, more tears forming in her eyes.

Buggs extends her gratitude to everyone who has contributed and will still accept wish-list items (list found at rmhcny.org/get-involved/wish-list/), pop tabs and monetary donations until Saturday, Oct. 31. Contact her at blb2017ts@gmail.com or via Facebook Messenger.

For those who routinely collect the pop tabs, please don’t stop. Trevor and his friends were deeply impacted by this experience, and while Buggs makes no promises, it is likely that those high school boys will “have their way” and talk her into doing this again next year.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

French Club silent auction

The Groton High School French Club would have been hosting its 10th annual craft show this November, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that is no longer possible. The club is fortunate to have a special opportunity to make up for part of the loss of its event.

Janet Watkins, owner of Brittany Station, 152 Main St., is hosting a silent auction of baskets and auction items on display in her store window, contributed by many of the vendors who are usually at the craft show.

Bids will be taken through 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30 by calling (607) 898-4994 or stopping in during regular business hours, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free winter clothing

The McLean Community Council, in partnership with the McLean Community Church, will hold its 17th annual Share the Warmth event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 at the McLean Church Pavilion, Cemetery Lane. There will be winter clothing available in all sizes free to anyone who needs them.

Donations of gently used or new winter clothing may be dropped off at the McLean Post Office by Friday, Oct. 23.

Reverse Advent at Food Pantry

The Groton Food Pantry coordinator, Jessamine Stone, would like to invite anyone in the community to participate in a Reverse Advent Calendar project, which would involve an individual, a family, a business, sports team, classroom, local club, etc. partnering with the GFN to add items each day of Advent into a box of provisions for a family in need.

Those who volunteer to build a box would receive a four-week calendar with food items to add to the box each day. For questions, to be involved or to suggest a family who would benefit from a box, contact Stone at (607) 592-4825 or Groton Food Providers via Facebook Messenger.