Lions Club holding scrap metal drive in June

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

That old creaky swing set that’s just been sitting there rusting in the backyard since before the kids were in high school? You can finally get rid of it this June — and for a good cause.

That’s when the Charles City Lions Club is holding its first-ever scrap metal drive.

Anyone can bring scrap metal to Denny’s Recycling, on 13th Avenue in Charles City, Wednesday through Saturday, June 19-22. Hours Wednesday through Friday will be from 1-7 p.m. and Saturday hours will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lions Club President Russell Schwarz said the scrap metal drive is a fundraising project to raise money for Lions Club donation gifts to the community and to support other projects.

“We’ll take almost anything that’s got metal on it,” Schwarz said. “Boats, kitchen appliances — if people have weight sets in their basements, or old treadmills they want to get rid of, we’ll take them.”

Denny’s Recycling will have four 40-yard “bottomless” dumpsters, a 30-foot, 10-ton telehandler, a 10-ton end loader with forks and two skid loaders.

“We’ll have dumpsters out there to the north side of the recycling center, and we’ll have Lions Club members occupying those,” Schwarz said.

Items accepted include flat screen TVs, computers, printers and laptops; home appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, freezers and microwaves; bikes, trikes toys, tools and metal toolboxes; grills, playground sets, patio furniture and fire pits; exercise equipment such as weight sets and treadmills; office equipment such as filing cabinets, metal shelves and staplers; fencing, posts, gates, wire and pipes; vehicles and trailers; engines, motors, toppers and gearboxes; old farm implements, feeders and bunks; metal boats, boat motors and docks.

No garbage or loose tires will be accepted, no non-metal boats, no campers and no motorhomes — although people can call Denny before June 1 for a consultation on items such as that.

Old, picture tube televisions and monitors will not be accepted for the drive, although they will be taken for a $10 fee.

“It will save them a trip to the junkyard,” Schwarz said.

The scrap metal project is new for the Charles City Lions Club, but it’s been done in nearby communities.

“This is the first time we’ve done this here,” Schwarz said. “We’re patterning it after some nearby Lions Clubs that have done it. We hope that farmers will get to their boneyards of old equipment and bring that in.”

The Lions Club takes part in several community projects throughout the year, and the money raised from the scrap metal drive will finance some of them.

“It’s a really good cause,” Schwarz said. “The Lions have been getting more active in the last couple of years, and I think you’re going to be seeing bigger and better things from our Lions.”

Among many other local projects and donations to the school district, the Lions also operate an eyeglass and hearing aid dropbox, the club raises American flags to decorate Central Park on patriotic holidays, Lions offer free vision screenings for preschoolers, and the club holds a fly-in pancake breakfast at the airport every summer and a used book sale every fall.

Recently the Lions announced a plan to raise three new flagpoles in place of the old memorial in Central Park. They will fit into a raised planting area surrounded by a 12-inch retaining wall. The proposed new memorial will feature limestone benches surrounding a 24-by-36-foot presentation platform that is level with the ground. Brick pavers would comprise the platform’s surface.

The $25,000-$30,000 project would be gifted to Charles City to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Lions Charles City chapter two years from now on May 3, 2021. The Charles City Lions Club was created on May 3, 1921.