The men’s lacrosse team led a bottle and can drive at the end of last month that raised a large sum of money for the Can Bottle Return. 

The team was the driving force in planning and making sure the bottle drive was in motion. Many of the players that were there helped throughout the entire process, creating the idea, planning the bottle drive and the execution of the drive. 

Kevin Doyle, a sophomore defenseman, said bottle drive was simple yet beneficial to all.

“We were in need for, just like funds,” Doyle said.  “That is really all it was. We were looking for something that we could put together that would not be too much work, but something that involved the community.”

With the hard work from everyone involved, the bottle drive became a reality.  

Digital posters were spread to all of the televisions around each of the dorms, administrative buildings and classroom buildings.  Many people outside of the college had found out through digital posters on social media platforms.  The day of came and cans and bottles rolled in.  Each of the lacrosse players gathered behind the Hafner Recreation Center. 

The lacrosse team had come up with the idea for making sure they were all set on funds for equipment, uniforms, transportation and, so much more.

With many organizations around Hamburg, the can bottle return was a very reliable place to work with.  “It is actually the can bottle return right down the road on Clark Street,” Mason Shehadi, a sophomore defenseman, said. 

The team offered Sabres tickets as a prize to the person who donated the most cans.

“Yeah, so we realized that people, a lot of times, don’t really do anything unless there an incentive for that,” Shehadi said. “So, we figured if we are going to help the community by taking their stuff, we may as well help them by giving them something.”

The Sabers tickets seemed to be a really good idea to gain the attention of donors. 

“So, right now the Sabers tickets are not purchased but, that is because we are going to choose the winner and see what works best for them.  So we are going to see what game they can go too and then we will get the tickets from there” Shahadi said.  

The team aspired to collect the most number of recyclables in the time frame they were given.    Both Conner Salamida, a sophomore defenseman, and Doyle said. 

“As many (bottles and cans) as we could.  We just wanted to get as much money as we can for our team,” Salamida said.

Doyle said the team had high aspirations for the amount they might raise.  

“Right now, I think with what we have, we’re probably going to be close to a couple grand,” he said. “I would say maybe.”

The Scribe reached out to the players to ask the total amount raised, but did not receive an answer.

Throughout the interview, the team had low confidence in themselves to gain that many bottles and cans. 

“Yeah, I’d say that expectations for the actual bottle drive weren’t really that high,” Ryan Fitch, a junior defenseman, said. We did a lot of the going out and asking for bottles and cans on our own and in groups.  We did not really advertise today as much as we should have so, you live and you learn.  Next time, we will advertise a little harder.”

Shahadi said the team only had a little time slot to collect as much as possible.

“And with it being a first – year event, it’s still crazy to think that about the amount of cans that we did collect, he said.  “We did get a lot of cans for the limited amount of time putting it out in the community.”

Shahadi said planning for the bottle drive was a process. 

“It was kind of trial and error really,: he said. “ Just seeing what really worked, what doesn’t.  And then we kind of just narrowed it down to the bottle drive.  We talked with a bunch of places out here that could do six cents per bottle so, this is one of them that are doing six cents per bottle.  We have another one at home doing six cents per bottle in Rochester.  Just talking to a lot of people and spread the word.  Talk to families, friends and, build up our arsenal of bottles.”

Shahadi said he was the driving force that was the brains behind the operation, the one who came up with the idea and his teammates followed along with the idea.   

 “The advertising process was like, well we started with flyers and started local,” Shahadi said. “So, I made flyers.  I do a lot of graphic design so, I spent a couple hours on a flyer.”

Shahadi said most of the team’s success in spreading the word about the drive came on social media platforms.  “It did not really get passed around in person,” he said. “It got passed around virtually through Instagram, Facebook, we kind of spread the word there.  Next time I would probably post out actual paper copies around school.  If we go door to door again, we could probably hand them out, just so they have a tangible thing to look at and see what they were doing instead of trying to remember what I said when I first knocked on the door.”