Magic Paper Boxes have appeared in Merrill, providing the community with an easy, cost-free method of helping the Noon Optimists raise funds for a handicapped accessible playground at Normal Park.
The big blue boxes arrived in Merrill on March 8 at six locations: Jenny Towers, Pine Ridge Mobil, Eagles Club, the Cenex station on Center Avenue, the Holiday station in the Sixth Ward and Dave’s County Market.
Waste services company IROW provides the boxes to collect office and school paper, junk mail, newspaper, magazines and catalogs. When the container is full, IROW will come and empty it. Merrill Optimist Club will then receive a payment for the value of the paper that has been collected.
Businesses and households are invited to place recyclable paper into the boxes. The Magic Paper Box is not for confidential documents. Please no plastic, cardboard, metal, glass or paper contaminated with food.
Paper collected through the Magic Paper Box program is directed to IROW in Mosinee, where it is sorted and then routed to local mills to be used in manufacturing recycled content newsprint.
Prior to utlizing the Magic Paper Box program, the Merrill Noon Optimists had raised about $30,000 toward the $250,000 goal for the new Normal Park playground, noted club president Vanessa Rueth.
“This is just one of the ways we are trying to raise funds,” Rueth said.
If the program works, Rueth said the Merrill Optimists could maintain the Magic Paper Boxes in Merrill for projects beyond the playground. The Optmist Club’s mission is to support programs that benefit youth in the community.
Monetary donations to the Normal Park playground project are also welcome. Donations may be sent to Merrill Noon Optimists, P.O. Box 881, Merrrill, WI 54452.