Recycle at Haywood site

One Madison County church family has really made a difference, not only in saving the planet but in the lives of needy children across the world.

Novum Baptist Church started a recycling program more than five years ago that has grown by leaps and bounds. They collect newspapers, magazines and aluminum cans and take the money to send out shoeboxes filled with toys and toothbrushes to children around the world.

It started off with being able to ship 25 Samartian’s Purse Christmas shoeboxes. This year, they shipped out 152 shoeboxes.

Two women – Shirley Wise of Madison and Ethel Frazier of Culpeper -- are the brains behind the project.

“When we go out and purchase the items to fill the boxes with we get as much enjoyment out of it as the children do who receive them,” Wise said. 

The recycling bins are located on Wise’s property. The receptacles are at the corner of Hoover (Route 609) and Ridgeview roads (Route 607) in the Novum-Haywwod community. The receptacles are unmanned and available all hours of the day, seven days a week. Wise said the only one to look after the receptacles is her dog Soldier, an Australian shepherd and blue heeler mix.

Her sons have recycling businesses that help out with the project. BF Wise and Sons in the Haywood area and Wise Services and Recycling in Culpeper take the recycling when it is full.

The two women spend the entire year shopping to fill the boxes. They order T-shirts, undergarments, toys, toothbrushes, toothpastes, crayons, composition books, coloring books to pack. They put in about 17 different items in each box. The cost of shipping each box is $7. Wise said they purchase items for children 2 years old to 14 years old and they divide it equally among boys and girls.

“We purchase the plastic boxes from Walmart. The Christmas paper goes in first, then the older children get a composition book and the younger ones get a coloring book,” Wise said.

Wise said many things that people do not think about can be recycled like receipts and grocery slips.

“All of that is recyclable. It is helping to save the earth,” Wise said.

She said if it is personal or confidential just shred it, otherwise throw it in a box and take to her recycling center.

 When asked why has the program has grown so much, she said, “Number one it is for a good cause. The church is very active in the community. Our church is very involved in helping the needy.”

Frank Gimbel of the Haywood area takes his recycling there instead of driving all the way to Shelby or Culpeper.

“It’s very convenient. We live less than a mile away,” Gimbel said. “If it can be reused I don’t see any sense in throwing it away.”

Gimbel also recycles his plastic water bottles. There is no place in the county to recycle plastics so Gimbel’s daughter Kelly Gimbel takes his plastic bottles when she drives up from Kitty Hawk, N.C. She takes his recycling back to Kitty Hawk with her.

“It was her idea on saving them. She’s big on recycling,” Gimbel said.

The receptacles help at least partly fill a void created when the county ended a popular neighborhood recycling program in May 2009. The roving recycling trailer was abruptly yanked from service after the county’s former facilities and recreation department director said it was too hard to keep county residents from filling it with inappropriate, non-recyclable items. Although the Novum site helps residents in that area of the county, no one has yet stepped forward to offer a site to replace the one in Banco that was once served by the county’s roving recycling trailer.

The only other place in Madison County that now accepts residents’ items for recycling is the transfer station at 4592 Shelby Road (Route 662).

IF YOU GO

What: Novum Baptist Church recycling center.

Where: Corner of Hoover (Route 609) and Ridgeview roads (Route 607) near Novum.

Information: Contact Shirley Wise at (540) 547-2918.