With restrictive measures in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, many non-profit organizations needed to find alternative means of bringing in donations.
For Cosmopolitan Industries, a Saskatoon organization that offers foundational programs for adults with intellectual disabilities, this was certainly the case.
“A lot of our activities were delayed because of COVID,” community relations manager Ken Gryschuk said. “So what this does for us is, we’re able to get some revenue, in a donation. But also we’re looking for a service we can provide for people in Saskatoon.”
To supplement the loss of incoming revenue the organization came up with an innovative initiative, “Cans4Cosmo”, a subscription service that where members from Cosmo come pick up cans and bottles from subscribers. Thus far, they’ve logged over 4,800 kilometres, while collecting over 3,200 bags of cans and more than 19,000 bottles of wine, and over 7,300 bottles of beer. Amounting to over $30,000 in donations.
“Well we have a half tonne truck (that’s) what we’re doing collections in,” Gryschuck said. “When you see 47 bags laying out there in the middle of the driveway you go, I’m going to make a few trips,” he chuckled. “But what a great donation to Cosmo, and to people with disabilities.”
The initiative will help to fund further programming at Cosmo, while being equally beneficial to those who use the service.
Besides the obvious positives of getting rid of the clutter, and avoiding the long wait times at Sarcan, subscribers also receive a charitable tax receipt.
“We have so many people thanking us,” Gryschuk said. “(However), they all tell me that it’s not all theirs,” he laughed. “I want to have a t-shirt that says ‘judgement free zone’ because we understand, it’s been there for months.”
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