Lions recycling project helps Dodge County Food Shelf

Kasson-Mantorville Lions Club members spent Saturday in the parking lot behind the Kasson American Legion doing what they do best – helping their community.
The occasion was the fourth annual “Scrap Metal Drive.” Members of the club were taking turns throughout the day including the late morning group of Mark Packard, Steve Sherry and Daryl Melquist.
Throughout the day cars and pickup trucks drove through the lot to drop off a variety of recyclable items. Stoves, freezers, washing machines, dryers, lawn mowers, tillers, cans, pipes, in short anything made of metal, found its way to the location.
By noon the group had also collected about 75 bicycles. The bikes were separated from the scrap metal and would be taken to an organization in Rochester that refurbishes them and gives them away, said Packard. Some of the bikes come back to Kasson for the Dodge County Care and Share, he said.
This was the fourth year the Lions had done the scrap metal drive, he said. The metal is taken to McNeilus in Dodge Center where it is sold for scrap. The amount of money taken in, he said, depends on the price of scrap metal and over the years has ranged from $500 to $2,000. Scrap is currently selling at about $80 a ton, he said, but prices have ranged as high as $200 a ton.
Whatever the amount of money raised, it is all donated to the Dodge County Food Shelf.
This year the group was also collecting “gently used” toys, games and books. These items are also given to the Rochester group for distribution to those who need them. The items are also given to those in Dodge County who can use them, he said.
There are about 60 members in the Kasson-Mantorville Lions Club who meet the fourth Monday of the month at the County Seat in Mantorville.
The group is centered around doing community service projects, members said. Lions Club members donate about $11,000 to $12,000 locally each year and an additional $3,000 to $4,000 to programs of the Lions International group.
Locally, the group helps support the Dodge County Food Shelf Dollars for Scholars, Care ‘N Share, SEMCAC and projects of the school district. 
This year’s collection ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the work did not stop then. Because of the amount of material in the parking lot, members would be keeping an eye on the scrap all night. Two Lions had volunteered to stay at the location from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and two others were coming from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
The items would be loaded up and taken to McNeilus on Sunday.
Somebody needs to do these projects, members said, and that is one of the things they like about the organization.
“There is always enough help,” Melquist said.