Family of Lakewood 4-year-old with leukemia collects 1 million pop tabs for charity

LAKEWOOD – Jacob Matthaei of Lakewood was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2015 when he was just 3 years old.

“It was really hard to hear for my husband Mark and I,” said Jennifer Matthaei, Jacob’s mother. “It was totally unexpected and very devastating for everyone.”

Right after her son was diagnosed, Jennifer said he was immediately sent to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago for treatment, where he returns every month. While Jacob gets his treatment, his family stays at the nearby Ronald McDonald House, a charity that provides care for families of children with complex medical needs.

“We go down to the Ronald McDonald House the night before treatment, and we call it a slumber party,” Jennifer said. “Jacob loves when we do this.”

During their stay, the Matthaei family learned about a fundraising tool used by the organization, where people collect pop tabs from aluminum cans, send them to the Ronald McDonald House and the funds generated from recycling the aluminum help families in need.

The Matthaei family then decided they were going to collect 1 million pop tabs throughout Jacob’s three years of treatment, but were able to accomplish their goal in a shorter amount of time than expected.

“We launched the tab collection on April 5, 2016, and hit our million [tab]goal in just seven months,” Jennifer said. “It was because of the amazing support from the community it was accomplished so fast. We always knew we had an amazing circle of friends, and this showed how quickly they are willing to pull together to help.”

Jennifer said the idea to start collecting pop tabs came from her daughter, Brynn, who also got West Elementary School in Crystal Lake involved.

“I asked my principal and school to make an announcement we need help collecting them,” Brynn said.

After the school heard Jacob’s story, an announcement was made over the loudspeaker, telling people about the fundraiser.

“We then had a bunch of people emailing us that they wanted to help out the cause,” Jennifer said.

Meanwhile, Jacob’s older brother, Andrew, 7, also wanted to get involved and is helping with the neighborhood collection.

“I told my friends to help, and then they told their friends, and then they told their friends,” Andrew said.

Jennifer said Jacob likes to help as well and is proud of himself when he finds some more aluminum tabs to donate.

“I wanted to make the other kids happy in the hospital,” Jacob said.

Last year, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana was able to raise more than $40,000 from their recycled pull tabs, which provides 800 nights of care and saves families $160,000 in food and hotel costs.

“I think this is a great example of a family who was dealing with a great amount of stress and turned that around into a positive way to give back to others.” said Kathy DeVries, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana.

The Matthaei family is not done collecting, as they are aiming to bring in 2 million aluminum tabs this year and are asking the community to help get involved again.

Those interested can drop off the tabs at West Elementary during school hours or set them right outside the front door when it’s closed.

“We did this not just because Jacob has cancer, but because it’ll help all kids who have cancer,” Jennifer said.

Jacob still is in remission and has about two years of treatment left.