Making the World a Better Place, One Pop Tab at a Time

Dairyland Supply Chain Manager Kiley Dura details Dairyland’s latest challenge, a battle between locations to see who can collect the most pop tabs, and its personal connection to her family. 

The Pop Tab Challenge

During Dairyland’s monthly team meeting in November, I introduced a new challenge to the group: Which facility—the headquarter office in Stoughton or the manufacturing shop in Pound—could collect the most pop tabs over the next six-week period? The challenge was simple and straight forward, on January 6^th the tabs at each location would be weighed, and the location with the heaviest supply of tabs would be named the winner and bragging rights would be awarded. We are a competitive bunch here at Dairyland, so everyone was eager to participate.

“We will do anything we can to win.” —Literally everyone at Dairyland during the challenge

What was my inspiration for launching this challenge? It actually started with my kids’ school. Our local elementary school launched a competition across all grade levels — whichever grade collected the most tabs by weight would receive a pizza and “pop” float party. And as an extra incentive, for every 10lbs raised, a lucky student got to throw a pie in the face of a teacher. The school’s competition inspired the entire community, and local bars, restaurants, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were soon collecting tabs for the kids. Quite frankly we were all feeling very excited.

More Than Just a Community Challenge

While I appreciate a community competition as much as anyone, for me, this challenge was more personal.

Nearly two years ago, 1/23/2023, I experienced one of the worst days of my life. On this day, I learned that my nephew, Jameson, who was three years old at the time, had a tumor growing through his skull that was pushing on his brain. The tumor was cancer — Stage 4 Neuroblastoma.  Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that develops from immature nerve cells. It is most common in and around the adrenal glands. Neuroblastoma is typically diagnosed in children between ages 1-2 and it is one of the most common types of cancer that affects the sympathetic nervous system.

The cause of this cancer is not well understood but is associated with specific gene mutations. Unfortunately, Jameson didn’t just have this cancer, he had a rare mutation that caused the cancer to speed up its growth. Jameson underwent surgery to remove the tumor from his head. This was just the beginning.

Cancer sucks. It’s so unfair. When I think of Jameson, I think he’s the most inspiring, courageous, and toughest boy I’ve ever met. Over the following 22 months, Jameson had 66 scans that include CT, MR, IR, XR, and ECG’s, 9 CVL surgeries, 2 tumor surgeries (1 skull and 1 adrenal gland the size of a baseball), 40 radiation treatments, chemotherapy, trials, pokes and blood draws, an endless number of trips to and from Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee,  and the stress and anxiety of the unknown. You name it, this kid has been through it all. During this time, our small-town community was nothing short of amazing. They held benefits to support us financially, community get-togethers to create awareness of childhood cancers, honored us at football games, held lemonade stands, and contributed personal gifts or letters to Jameson while at the hospital. The support from strangers who became like family is a true testament to humanity.

Ronald McDonald House

While the community support was amazing, we found a place in Milwaukee called Ronald McDonald House that provides the same outpouring of care. Ronald McDonald House provides families “a home away from home”, a free place to stay, while their ill or injured children are being treated at Children’s Wisconsin and other area hospitals. This house was built and opened in 1984 and is referred to as “the house that love built”, and it couldn’t be truer. To date, Jameson has had over 223 hospital visits in Milwaukee, an approximately 2.5-hour drive from his home. His family could not afford to stay in a hotel or make the drive back-and-forth for each of these appointments, so staying at the Ronald McDonald House alleviated one worry for the family. Thankfully Jameson’s stay at the Ronald House came to an end on November 14, 2024, when he rang the bell at the hospital, symbolizing that he is officially cancer FREE. To say we are beyond grateful, thankful, and blessed that our little man is on his way to a healthy, cancer free life is definitely an understatement. However, we as a family still want to continue to support such a great charity.

So, how is this connected to the pop tabs? The Ronald McDonald house has thrived on donations from mainly soda can tabs, but also canned food or pet food tabs, from families across eastern Wisconsin. Since 2000, recycling the little aluminum tabs has generated over $400,000 for our Ronald McDonald House to help keep families together. They not only offer families a place to sleep while their child is being treated but have fun things for the kids to play with, offer dinners most nights, and provide entertainment to allow the families to take their minds off the main reason why they are there.

Back to the Dairyland Challenge — Who Won?!

As I mentioned early on, there were no rules to Dairyland’s Pop Tab Challenge, which really brought out some competitive spirits. Most people challenged their families to save tabs at home so they could bring them to the appropriate collection site. But some took it a step further, purchasing tabs from Amazon to seal the win. The Stoughton office came up with a stash that weighed whopping 9.476 lbs., while the Shop’s impressive collection weighed in at 7.656 lbs. Collectively, Dairyland gathered enough pop tabs to total 17.132 lbs. I couldn’t have been prouder of my work family for helping my kids donate to such a great charity via their school. My kids were ecstatic!!!

“We put our blood, sweat, and tears into this.” —Various team members at our production facility

While the school’s contest isn’t over yet, by mid-December, the students had collectively turned in 417 POUNDS of tabs. Dairyland was able to add our solid 17 pounds to the mix. However, The Ronald McDonald house is the real winner of this company/school/community competition, as these tabs will allow them to continue their good work.