Key Club undertakes steel recycle project

The scrap steel that farmers keep in their fields around Hill County may be converted into money to help pay for a well that will serve people in Uganda under a fundraiser sponsored by the Havre High School Key Club.

Farmers who recycle their steel through Pacific Steel & Recycling can let people know that a portion of the money should go to Aidspirit, a nondenominational Christian group that is helping poor areas of Uganda, said John Ita, faculty adviser for the Key Club.

Then Pacific will add an additional $10 per ton for the cause.

If people need help in getting the steel to Pacific, E-I Towing and Auto Repair Towing will provide the truck, Ita said. Megan Erickson, whose parents own the company, is a Key Club member, and she volunteered the company's services, Ita said.

And Ita said he is sure he could find students to help get the steel onto Erickson’s trucks.

“I’m sure the football team or some other group would be willing to help,” he said.

The idea came about as Ita and three Key Club members were driving home from the state Key Club convention in Billings where the group won 13 awards for the various projects they have undertaken in recent years.

They were brainstorming about ways to raise funds during the coming years. They agreed to continue their successful sidewalk stencil program in which Key Clubbers stencil Blue Pony images of people’s sidewalks.

But the idea of helping to build a water well in Uganda kept coming up.

Just before the Key Club convention, he said, he had talked to a Ugandan who attended a meeting at KXEI, the Christian radio station where he serves on the board.

He asked the man the biggest problem facing Uganda.

Lack of clean water was his response.

Rainey Stoner, a farm girl and Key Club member, said a lot of farmers had steel in their fields that they would like to get rid of.

She proposed the deal with Pacific. Ita looked into it, and it worked out.

Ita said it is a very worthy cause.

The Aidspirit website has pictures of young kids walking through muddy water, scooping it up to drink, he said.

“It breaks your heart,” he said.

The cost of a well in a Ugandan village is about $10,000, he said.

“This is an ambitious project,” he said.

Anyone interested in the steel project or in having a Blue Pony stencil on their sidewalk can call Ita at 945-1317.