Let’s face it, a bottle drive isn’t exactly a new or exciting event. That didn’t stop the Oakville Trafalgar Club and clubs within their cluster from making it a true success. To date, over $9000 has been raised from community donations of returnable bottles and cans. At 20¢ a bottle and 10¢ a can, that’s a mountain of returns!
What makes this event an inspiration is how well it was executed by the Oakville Cluster. Whether it was the coordination required to staff the 3 pick-up points, or collect large donations at people’s homes, or cart the containers to the Beer Store, it was truly a “hands on” project for many Rotarians within the cluster.
The effort to promote the bottle-drive was also 'best-in-class'. The fundraiser was featured in Oakville News, Inside Halton and Snapd. The event was also posted on Facebook. That post was then shared to Facebook Groups within the Oakville community by local Rotarians. The list included Oakville Talk, Bronte Village neighbours helping neighbours, Oakville - Anything and everything!, SEOakvilleMoms, If You Grew Up In Oakville, Oakville Past Present and Future. In total, over 3000 people saw the post for the Bottle Drive on Facebook. One post generated over 400 Likes and Shares. That’s excellent exposure targeted at community-minded readers! All it took was a few simple clicks. Best of all, it was free!
Hats-off to the Oakville Cluster for demonstrating the power of a simple, well executed idea!
P.S. The bottle drive is still on! Rotarians that in Oakville, East Burlington and West Mississauga are encouraged to donate to the cause. Please email bottledrive@rcot.ca to arrange for pick-ups of large donations.