Rochester Student’s Bottle Drop
Raises Money for School Band
By Martha Slater

Gavin Curtis' project has benefited the school band. (Herald / Martha Slater)

Driving by the home on Route 100 where Rochester School eighth grader Gavin Curtis lives with his parents, David and Wenda, and older brother, Jace, it would be hard to miss the bottle drop sign displayed prominently in the front yard. Boxes and bags of empty bottles and cans, dropped off there by area residents, are often stacked around the sign.

The ongoing drop site is the continuation of a project begun by Jace several years ago, to raise money for a school trip to Costa Rica. After that trip, Gavin took it over and has been donating the proceeds to the Rochester School Band. A check for $400 has already been given to music teacher and band director, Carol Cronce, and David confirmed that another check for at least that amount would be presented soon.

"It’s an incredibly generous gift," Cronce said. "We used part of it for our new windbreakers and will also put it toward a band trip in the spring."

"We’re proud of him," David said. "After the Costa Rica trip, we tried to think of a way to give back to the community, and Gavin wanted to help the school band."

Bottles and cans collected are taken twice a month to the M & M Redemption Center in Randolph by Gavin and his grandfather, Ron Curtis of Hancock, who started making the drive as his contribution to Jace’s trip and has continued with the band project.

The Curtis family is grateful to the many local residents and tourists, too, who have dropped off bottles and cans, but Gavin notes that some people may not realize that "just because it’s recyclable, doesn’t mean it’s returnable. Plastic bottles for water and drinks like Snapple aren’t usually returnable. People should check to make sure it’s marked returnable and look for VT."

David added that any non-returnable items that have been dropped off have been taken to the monthly recycling site at the town office.

The drop site sign, which had been adorned with a large trumpet cutout (Gavin plays trumpet in the band), has recently been re-vamped with a map of Italy and a cutout of an airplane. Now that he’s helped out the band, Gavin’s new project is to raise money to participate in a school trip to Italy in spring of 2009.

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