INUVIK - It had been a long day, but Loretta Hopkins looked around her with a smile.

Jonathan Kunnizzie, left, and Tara Beaulieu sort bottles Jan. 8 at the bottle drive fundraiser for the Inuvik Child Development Centre. - Aaron Beswick/NNSL photo

Young and old were busy sorting through bags of recyclables, and the bottle depot's big bay door opened to reveal Tom Clarke with another load. Volunteers piled into the back of the truck to carry bags upon bags of plastic and cases of beer bottles into the centre.

All that discarded aluminum and plastic meant money, a few cents at a time, to help pay salaries, administrative costs and materials for the Inuvik Child Development Centre (ICDC). The daycare at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School looks after 42 children, ages two to 10 years old.

"We just put out e-mails, put it on Facebook and people started calling us to come pick up their recyclables," said Hopkins. "And we've had a big turnout of volunteers."

Two shifts worked all day Jan. 8 sorting the bottles, totalling some 25 volunteers, as drivers went around Inuvik picking up recyclables. While their last bottle drive raised little more than $1,200, Hopkins estimated they would triple that amount this year thanks to all the support.

"It's a bit inspiring really, getting so much support," said Hopkins. "All these people coming out to help and all the support make the daycare possible and the daycare is important."

The ICDC holds at least two bottle drives each year.

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