West Island man funding cancer charities one can at a time

Jim Morrison has a spacious two-car garage — but forget about trying to park any vehicle inside.

His garage is full of empty bottles and cans.

The massive pile sits there for a cause. Morrison takes the stash to local grocery stores to collect the returns for local cancer charities.

It’s a fundraising effort he started last year and it has caught fire. People from across the West Island and even off-island come to Morrison’s Baie-D’Urfé home to drop off their empties knowing the returns are going for a good cause.

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So far this year, he’s collected enough bottles and cans to raise $3,400. All of the proceeds go toward the West Island Community Shares, an umbrella charity organization, which in turn donates the money to local cancer charities.

“At the end of it all, you’re getting people who say, my mother died of cancer, my sister died of cancer. They want to help, they just don’t know how to,” Morrison told Global News from inside the garage of his home.

Morrison’s father, Richard, passed away years ago due to colon cancer. Richard Morrison was only 58. But during his life, Richard taught his son some valuable life-long lessons.

“You just don’t know who you can affect by being kind. And my father always taught me that. He goes, just be kind. And it will come back to you tenfold,” Morrison said.

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Morrison is hoping to raise $4,000 by the end of the year through empty can and bottle donations.

“Every individual fundraising activity is a godsend for us because right now, we’re very limited in what we can do,” Sophie McCann, the executive director of West Island Community Shares told Global News.

Betsy Benoit is one Baie-D’Urfé resident who makes regular contributions of empty cans and bottles to help.

“It’s rewarding to know that it’s going toward a good cause,” Benoit told Global News.

Morrison’s efforts go beyond his local drive. He’s been involved in other fundraising activities for cancer and his efforts are well recognized.

“We could be sitting here any afternoon and several cars will show up with bags and bags of cans and bottles,” Robert Reside, a Saint-Lazare resident told Global News.

Normally, Morrison makes several trips a week to local grocery stores so that his garage doesn’t get too crowded with the empties.

“I just put a can in at a time. I’m able to do about a thousand an hour,” he said.