Band Parents’ Bottle & Can Drive Saturday

Got any beer bottles or soda cans piling up in your garage?

The Newtown High School Band and Color Guard Parents Association will be holding a bottle and can fund drive this Saturday from 9 am to noon at the former Obergs’ gas station on Church Hill Road.

The bottle and can drive, held on the second Saturday of every month, is a major fundraiser for the high school marching band and color guard program, which costs close to $100,000 a year to run.

According to Chet Janutolo, a band parent association member, each bottle and can drive nets the program around $1,200, as band members collect recyclables from residents and turn them in for five cent refunds.

“We raise at least $1,200 per month this way to help defray some of the enormous cost of maintaining the quality of the NHS marching band and color guard programs,” Mr Janutolo said.

The color guard, for its part, will be present Saturday for impromptu performances, both as a way to entertain and attract attention to the drive.

Besides their monthly bottle and can drives, band parents maintain a collection area on a daily basis at the town’s dump for residents who want to turn over their recyclables to the band.