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Keeping tabs: Man saves them up for charity

By Staff | Oct 21, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Steve Conti with a big platter full of aluminum tabs.

Steve Conti, who lives in County Club Estates in Lehigh, a retired local real estate executive and mortgage broker, was all smiles as he spread about almost a thousand tabs that he’s been saving and planning to hand over to McDonald’s this week.

The aluminum tabs, found on all canned soft drinks, beers and other beverages in addition to more and more canned goods, help McDonald’s maintain their Ronald McDonald’s houses, which are homes for parents of children who are hospitalized throughout the U.S. Parents may stay in the special homes when their children are kept in the hospital.

The Mission of the Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Florida is to provide families of seriously ill children a place to stay while their child is undergoing medical treatment – a home away from home that will enable them to remain together and function as a family in an environment of love, strength, and support – an expression of the warmth and caring of this community, according to a Ronald McDonald website.

This isn’t the first time that Conti has handed over such a large amount of tabs. When he gets what he thinks amounts to a thousand or 2,000 tabs, he says he takes them down to the manager of the McDonald’s on Homestead Rd.

Conti has been doing this for a very long time, at least back to when he owned his own businesses in Lehigh.

MEL TOADVINE Close up of some of the many aluminum tabs that Conti has collected.

“I asked all our employees to save the tabs and give them to me. I would take them home, bag them up in plastic and keep them until I got a few thousand and then I would take them to the fast food restaurant,” Conti said with pride.

“Just imagine all that aluminum from people from all over the country giving it to the restaurant – and it being melted down – it would provide tons of aluminum which I understand is sold to help build the McDonald homes.

“I’m sure I’ve got from 2,500 to 3,000 here,” he said last week.

Not only do they come from him, but from his big family when they’re in town, and local friends who come over and have a drink.

“There a big fridge in garage and I tell everyone who comes over to go and get themselves a drink. I got eight different soda flavors and different beers. I keep that fridge stocked up because when our family and all the grandkids are here, they love the sodas,” he laughed. He and his wife, Bobbi, have seven children, 19 grandchildren and one great grandchild. While not all live locally, Conti said theirs is a close family

His wife, Bobbi, helps in the saving of all the tabs. She works in real estate in Lehigh for Realty World. Conti himself is retired, but you wouldn’t know it. Phones are ringing throughout the day and Conti belongs to several organizations, one that he favors much is the Community Council of Lehigh Acres.

When asked why he cares so much about saving all those tabs over the years, Conti said many years ago he was affected by the needs of so many people.

It was at a meeting in Fort Myers about helping people in different ways and in that case, it was about helping them physically.

“It continued to affect how I felt about helping others in any way I possibly can. The community treated me well when I was in business and I want to give back to the community.

“I have a card made up about the size of a business card and I often pass them out to people.

“I just put it in their hand and say if you ever need any help or if I can do something for you, call me,” Conti said. On the card is his phone number of 239-369-7235 “that okay to give out, go ahead and use it,” he said.

Conti laughed and said he had gone to law school, but decided not to become an attorney. But he has a lot of that information stored away, he said.

“And if someone needs some legal advice, just ask me and I’ll tell you what I think, but I don’t pretend to be a lawyer,” he laughed.

“I call that business size card my ‘pro bono card’ when I hand them out,” he said.

Looking back over the years, Conti said he probably has given McDonald’s hundreds of thousands of tabs, but he says they are also from his friends and family who he encourages to save the tabs, too.

“And if anyone wants to start saving them and when they get a small plastic bag full, they can bring them over. Or they can call me,” he laughed.

Keeping tabs: Man saves them up for charity

By Staff | Oct 21, 2015

MEL TOADVINE Steve Conti with a big platter full of aluminum tabs.

Steve Conti, who lives in County Club Estates in Lehigh, a retired local real estate executive and mortgage broker, was all smiles as he spread about almost a thousand tabs that he’s been saving and planning to hand over to McDonald’s this week.

The aluminum tabs, found on all canned soft drinks, beers and other beverages in addition to more and more canned goods, help McDonald’s maintain their Ronald McDonald’s houses, which are homes for parents of children who are hospitalized throughout the U.S. Parents may stay in the special homes when their children are kept in the hospital.

The Mission of the Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Florida is to provide families of seriously ill children a place to stay while their child is undergoing medical treatment – a home away from home that will enable them to remain together and function as a family in an environment of love, strength, and support – an expression of the warmth and caring of this community, according to a Ronald McDonald website.

This isn’t the first time that Conti has handed over such a large amount of tabs. When he gets what he thinks amounts to a thousand or 2,000 tabs, he says he takes them down to the manager of the McDonald’s on Homestead Rd.

Conti has been doing this for a very long time, at least back to when he owned his own businesses in Lehigh.

MEL TOADVINE Close up of some of the many aluminum tabs that Conti has collected.

“I asked all our employees to save the tabs and give them to me. I would take them home, bag them up in plastic and keep them until I got a few thousand and then I would take them to the fast food restaurant,” Conti said with pride.

“Just imagine all that aluminum from people from all over the country giving it to the restaurant – and it being melted down – it would provide tons of aluminum which I understand is sold to help build the McDonald homes.

“I’m sure I’ve got from 2,500 to 3,000 here,” he said last week.

Not only do they come from him, but from his big family when they’re in town, and local friends who come over and have a drink.

“There a big fridge in garage and I tell everyone who comes over to go and get themselves a drink. I got eight different soda flavors and different beers. I keep that fridge stocked up because when our family and all the grandkids are here, they love the sodas,” he laughed. He and his wife, Bobbi, have seven children, 19 grandchildren and one great grandchild. While not all live locally, Conti said theirs is a close family

His wife, Bobbi, helps in the saving of all the tabs. She works in real estate in Lehigh for Realty World. Conti himself is retired, but you wouldn’t know it. Phones are ringing throughout the day and Conti belongs to several organizations, one that he favors much is the Community Council of Lehigh Acres.

When asked why he cares so much about saving all those tabs over the years, Conti said many years ago he was affected by the needs of so many people.

It was at a meeting in Fort Myers about helping people in different ways and in that case, it was about helping them physically.

“It continued to affect how I felt about helping others in any way I possibly can. The community treated me well when I was in business and I want to give back to the community.

“I have a card made up about the size of a business card and I often pass them out to people.

“I just put it in their hand and say if you ever need any help or if I can do something for you, call me,” Conti said. On the card is his phone number of 239-369-7235 “that okay to give out, go ahead and use it,” he said.

Conti laughed and said he had gone to law school, but decided not to become an attorney. But he has a lot of that information stored away, he said.

“And if someone needs some legal advice, just ask me and I’ll tell you what I think, but I don’t pretend to be a lawyer,” he laughed.

“I call that business size card my ‘pro bono card’ when I hand them out,” he said.

Looking back over the years, Conti said he probably has given McDonald’s hundreds of thousands of tabs, but he says they are also from his friends and family who he encourages to save the tabs, too.

“And if anyone wants to start saving them and when they get a small plastic bag full, they can bring them over. Or they can call me,” he laughed.