HARRISTON – Since he was a child, Gregory Blagdon has cared about people who are less fortunate.
So it’s no surprise to those who know Blagdon best that the 44-year-old recently donated around 850,000 pop can tabs to the Harriston Legion’s Tabs for Wheelchairs project.
“He’s always gravitated to being kind and helping out,” Blagdon’s mom Victoria Waltham-Kingsley told the Advertiser.
Not even a recent year of health challenges can stop his mission.
The recent donation filled around 920 two-litre pop bottles, and weighed 1,600 pounds.
While some people drop tabs off already sorted, others bring boxes of tabs for Blagdon to sort, a few at time, into bottles.
He also gets help collecting from friend Michael Urig.
“He’s very patient,” Waltham-Kingsley said of her son.
So far, he’s amassed and donated a grand total of 2.5 million tabs.
Sitting in their Harriston home recently, Blagdon’s face lit up as he greeted someone dropping off a new donation.
His mom said Blagdon began collecting tabs a decade ago after learning about the Legion’s project.
Tabs donated in Harriston are collected by the Elora Legion, which spearheads the Tabs for Wheelchairs project.
Tabs are sold for their metal value and the money used to purchase wheelchairs and other assistive devices, which are then loaned out for free by the Elora Legion.
“He’s got quite the system going where he’s got people collecting for him, and he organizes it all and brings it to our Legion,” said Krista Fisk, of the Legion’s Harriston branch.
He and his mom arrive at the Legion each year, backing in a pickup truck full of plastic totes filled to the brim with the bottled tabs.
“It’s a huge job,” Fisk said, and “remarkable that he does this every year.”
“He’s such a remarkable young man,” she said.
Gregory Blagdon was recognized with a certificate from the House of Commons for his work collecting tabs for wheelchairs. Photo by Robin George
Blagdon received a certificate from the House of Commons recognizing his work and thanking him for his “dedication and commitment in helping others in our community.”
Most hear about Blagdon via word of mouth, with tabs travelling from as far as Nova Scotia, Peterborough, Zephyr and Toronto, according to Waltham-Kingsley.
“Our garage does get full,” she said, laughing.
After health challenges put the tab project on pause for a while, Waltham-Kingsley said her son is back at it, getting ever closer to sorting his three millionth tab.
“The old Greg is coming around again,” she said.
It’s just one of many activities he enjoys, said mom, along with rug hooking, drawing, colouring, Lego, listening to music and dancing – especially to classic rock and rock and roll.
When he’s ready for a break from being creative, he’s often back to sorting, she said.
To donate to the Tabs for Wheelchairs project, contact the Harriston Legion at 519-338-2843 or legion296@wightman.ca.
