'I just want to help someone': Why this Winkler kid is collecting pop-can tabs

Winkler’s Masen Rempel has been on a mission for the past three years – collecting tabs from aluminum cans.

“We put a cup in each classroom, and once they get filled up, I put them in a Ziploc bag and bring it home,” Rempel told CTV News Friday.

The endeavour started at his school, but has evolved into a community-wide initiative. Masen’s Mission has bins set up at the library, arena, and other spots around Winkler. He also receives tabs from Long Plain First Nation.

“We had a bag of them almost as big as me get dropped off,” the 11-year-old baseball and hockey player said. “Around 75 pounds!”

He collects them in large plastic bins that hold about 100,000 tabs each.

After filling up a bin, Rempel brings his haul to Urbanmine, a metal recycling company in Winnipeg. The crew there melt down the aluminum and hand over a cheque.

He estimates he’s collected about 1.4 million tabs since he started Masen’s Mission. However, his goal is even bigger than that.

“14 to 18 million,” Rempel said with a big grin.

That much aluminum is worth thousands of dollars – enough for Rempel to purchase a wheelchair for someone in need.

His mother’s own experience living with multiple sclerosis (MS) inspired him to start the project.

“My mom used to have a wheelchair, and I just want to help someone who doesn’t have one,” he said.

Sherri Rempel said she wasn’t able to walk when her son was about two years old. She said while he was too young to remember, she showed him pictures.

“I told him stories,” Sherri Rempel told CTV News. “He used to push me around in the wheelchair, and that was his job.”

She went through rounds of physio and numerous doctor appointments – and learned to walk again.

“I was not staying in that wheelchair forever,” she said “That was my goal. I want to run around with Masen and do stuff with him.”

Now, she’s helping her son reach his goal of helping someone else.

“He just really wants to help somebody,” she explained. “I have a friend that’s in a wheelchair permanently, so [Masen's] seen the struggles that he has."

Recently, Rempel started accepting empty cans as well – in hopes of hitting the 14 million mark sooner.

For more information, people wanting to donate tabs can contact the family at [e-mail].