SWAMPSCOTT — If you have clear plastic water bottle caps lying around, rather than throw them away, consider donating them to Human Harmonies, a martial arts school on Paradise Road, which donates the caps to help make prosthetic limbs for Ukrainian veterans.
Cofounder and Master Level Instructor John Calabrese explained that he felt moved to help the cause, saying that when he learned of two Ukrainian veterans — Vitaly Fomenko and Henadiy Degtyar — who first spearheaded the initiative several years ago, he knew he wanted to help spread word.
He said the martial arts school is working in collaboration with Repay U.S., a company that collects the caps and utilizes the accumulated plastic to help design the prosthetic limbs.
“I’ve had a lot of veterans in my family, so it feels very rewarding to be able to help others and give back with the community, especially for the veterans in the war in Ukraine,” Calabrese said.
He added that he also does workshops and volunteers at Greater Lynn Senior Services, which was already collecting bottle caps.
After he came across the initiative online, he began collecting the caps and tried to plant the seeds of the idea in the minds of his martial arts students.
“I started collecting them, and over time, it started expanding… I’ll have students come in and put their bottle caps in a basket in the waiting-room area, which I’ll deliver or have them get picked up at the end of the month,” he said.
Since Calabrese has started the donation drive, he noted that he’s since gone on to collect “thousands” of plastic bottle caps.
While no definitive number could be found on how many caps are required to make a single limb, according to Envision Hands, a company based in Australia that collects bottle caps to create prosthetic limbs, roughly 500 caps are used to make a child’s hand. For an arm, it can take up to 1,000 caps.
Calabrese said that the way community members can contribute is simple: just drop off their bottle caps.
“They have to be clear plastic, like a Poland Spring’s bottle… That’s the only requirement. They can stop by the school and leave them in the basket in the waiting area,” he said.
He said he knows others who try to collect caps in order to help push the cause along.
“I have a number of people that I know that are really active with it. We’ve been able to gather a pretty sizable amount of caps every month,” Calabrese said.
He added, “It’s very important to always give back and help others wherever you can… It’s not really a hard thing to do, but it makes a big difference. Saving your caps and dropping them off doesn’t really cost anything but time and attention to the situation.”
Human Harmonies, which was established in 2008, has programs designed to help people of all ages and abilities gain better control over their health using Tai Chi, Qigong, Bagua, and other healing arts.
Community members are asked to bring their donations to the school’s address at 1005 Paradise Road or reach out to Theresa Whiting at [email protected] to schedule a pick-up.
