Monkeytown’s Kurt Karr presents a donation to Food Pantry’s Linda Wood. Credit Vinton Today
Monkeytown’s cartridge recycling programme helps to buy food and other essentials for people in Eastern Iowa.
Vinton Today reported on the Care Now programme run by supplies sourcing and custom delivery company Monkeytown, which recycles used ink and toner cartridges and donates 100 percent of the money it receives towards food banks in Iowa.
The company, which is based in Vinton, Iowa, encourages “businesses and individuals” to return their used printer cartridges whether they were originally purchased from Monkjeytown or not, in order for them to be recycled; reducing landfill waste and allowing donations to be made to those in the area who are less fortunate.
Kurt Karr, who is ‘Top Banana’ at Monkeytown, commented: “Our Care Now initiative does double duty. It not only allows us to contribute to area food pantries in their efforts to feed those in need but it also keeps used ink and toner cartridges out of our landfills. We are thrilled to be able to have a positive impact on both humanitarian and ecologic levels.”
Meanwhile Nicole Schminke, ‘Head Zookeeper’ or Manager of Daily Operations, at the company, added: “Monkeytown’s donations to the food banks have not just been monetary. We’ve also been able to give much needed paper products like bath and facial tissue that are not always easily available to these organisations but are always needed and appreciated. This programme’s success comes from the generosity of the customers we serve and their willingness to help others.”
The Care Now programme additionally includes a “School Nurses Fund”, which makes non-taxpayer dollars available to schools without them needing to go through “usual school purchasing procedures”. This helps schools to provide “underwear, eyeglasses, mittens and hats, lice treatments and much more” to their pupils; with donations made “in one dollar increments” when customers add a special code “to any order and a quantity equal to the dollar amount to be donated”. Monkeytown then “matches all donations going to the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District up to $150 (€110.76) per month”.