By Allison Hamburger

 

Jordan Elist ’13 was featured as a KABC Cool Kid for his non-profit organization “Save a Bottle, Save a Life” on Aug. 26.

The organization, which he founded last year, donates food to the Jewish Family Services Food Bank bought with money raised from recycling bottles and cans.

Elist has collected about $3,000 so far, which translates to about to 5,500 pounds of donated food. Elist hands out bags to about 75 houses every week.

The residents collect recyclables and return the bags to Elist. He then uses the money earned from the recycling center to buy food for the food bank. Elist said he would like to include the school in the future to expand the organization.

“I’m planning on giving a bag to every student at the school to collect their own bottles and cans. Then maybe at the end of the week they can recycle it themselves and get some community service hours,” Elist said.

Elist is hoping to incorporate bigger companies, especially ones involved in the food or bottling industries, he said.

He was interviewed by ABC Eyewitness News’s Danny Romero as a part of the weekly “Cool Kids” segment, which features kids involved in bettering their community.

Elist said he was surprised to find out about the segment, but enjoyed the process.