published: Friday, December 14, 2012

Rotary's Circle of Cans takes place today

By BARRY FOSTER

News-Sun correspondent

SEBRING -- The annual Circle the Circle with Cans drive by the Sebring Noon Rotary Club will get under way this morning at 7 a.m.

Many long-time residents remember the collection of cash and non-perishable foodstuffs as being taken in before Thanksgiving, however, Noon Rotary Community Service Committee chair Mary Strenth said another event pre-empted it this year.

"We always used to have it the Friday before Thanksgiving, but this year we had the Touch-a-Truck on that date," she explained.

The Circle of Cans has been a unique event in Sebring and had been spotty in recent years.

"I can remember when we had a double course of cans all the way around the Circle. I'd like to see it get back to that," she said.

Strenth received volunteers from a number of other Rotary clubs to help with the collection, which will go from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three intersections around Circle Drive will be staffed, including South Commerce as well as North and South Ridgewood Drive.

There will be a bit more collection time this year. Last year it only went until 1 p.m., but this year the collection will run until 4 p.m. In addition to Noon Rotarians, other Rotary Club members have offered to help with the drive and The Salvation Army representatives also will be on hand to assist.

Those donating canned or boxed goods are urged to check the boxes to make certain they are not outdated.

"In the past we have received items with 'use by' dates as old as 2010 and 2009," said Highlands County Salvation Army Major Bruce Stefanik. "Of course, we had to throw those out."

Stefanik said that generally the kinds of items they were looking for include what most people would generally have in a holiday dinner.

Although donations for the Red Kettle campaign have been running about the same as last year, he said the requests were up 20-30 percent from 2011.

Stefanik said for those who had time, there still are shifts available for the Red Kettle locations throughout Highlands County.