CADIZ — On Dec. 7, Brad George of Cadiz and his family made a trip to Pittsburgh to deliver two truckloads of pull tabs for recycling at the AAA Scrap Iron and Metal with proceeds donated to the Pittsburgh Ronald McDonald House.

Delivery of the 793 pounds of tabs, which is approximately 1 million tabs, marks the third time that George and his family have taken a truckload of tabs to Pittsburgh for this purpose. In 2020, he collected 426 pounds of tabs, which would be approximately 539,742 tabs, In 2022 he collected 665 pounds of tabs, approximately 842,555 tabs His goal this time around was to reach the 1 million-tab mark.

Funds from the pull tabs recycled, a $325 donation from the Buckeye Power Cardinal Plant golf scramble, a matching gift from AAA Scrap Iron and Metal, some cash left in the tab collection containers, and a family donation enabled George to make a total donation of $1,000 to the Ronald McDonald House of Pittsburgh this year. It uses these funds to offset the cost of families staying there who typically have children in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital next door.

George received a lot of help in his quest to reach 1 million tabs over the past two-plus years. In addition to the tabs he received from family and friends, several Ohio organizations contributed to the effort including local Catholic churches such as St. Francis Cabrini, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Casimir’s, St. Adelbert’s, St. Mary’s, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as the Harrisville Methodist Church, Faith Methodist Church, St. James Lutheran Church, Buckeye Power Cardinal Plant, Brightside Tavern, JP’s Saloon, The Adena American Legion, the Cadiz Country Club, Royal Riders 4-H Club, Vintage Fitness, Undo’s, Pine Valley Sportsman Club, and Jewett Sportsman’s Club, among others.

He also received tabs from all over the world which came from local travelers who have visited various countries including Italy, Mexico, Tahiti, Australia, and New Zealand.

This has been a great hobby for George, as he has been collecting tabs since he himself got out of Children’s Hospital in Columbus in 1982 after having open heart surgery. His parents, Chuck and Sara, had the opportunity to meet many parents while there who also had children in that hospital. They spoke highly of the Ronald McDonald House, its convenient location next to the hospital, and the very reasonable rates for stays.

During George’s early days, the tabs he collected went to another group that would save the tabs and take them to Ronald McDonald Houses. When that group leading the effort decided to stop doing it in 2016, George took over the task of collecting and transporting the tabs to the recycling facilities for donations. Along with his parents and his brother Ryan’s family, he makes the trip to Pittsburgh about every two years for recycling the tabs and taking the proceeds to the Ronald McDonald House there since George now goes to that Children’s Hospital for his checkups.

For more information about George and his pull tabs collection hobby, check out his Facebook page called Brad’s Tabs. He extends many thanks to everyone who helped achieve his goal of 1 million tabs and also with the monetary contribution to Ronald McDonald House.

His next collection has already started.