NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) – Can you imagine what 423 lbs. of soda pull-tabs look like? Imagine no longer. A New Iberia man collected exactly that over the past five years and donated it all to a local charity.

Every day for Dwayne Gaskins starts the same. He picks up a box of cans, separates the tabs, crushes the cans to donate, and saves the tabs to donate.

News Ten Reporter Neale Zeringue asked Gaskins, “Whenever you look at a little pull-tab what do you see?” After a moment, he replied, “I see helping.”

You’ve heard one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but for Dwayne Gaskins, the “trash” is a donation. Monday, he called the Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Louisiana to surrender his treasure trove, and Larry Miller answered.

Dwayne Gaskins sitting atop his 423 lbs. of pull-tabs before donating them.

“I basically drove up, and I see Dwayne and he was like look at this,” Larry Miller, owner & operator of area McDonald’s, recalled. “I was expecting a bag or two of pull-tabs, maybe a couple of gallon jugs like some people have donated before. I just wasn’t expecting a pallet load.”

A scrapyard paid $250 for the 423 pounds of aluminum. Miller stated the company added 10¢ to the pound essentially donating fifty of those $250. A check was written to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Louisiana so children and families in need of medical procedures can have a free home away from home in New Orleans.

“For one person to affect that many people for a good cause it’s just fantastic,” Miller encouraged.

Calculating the weight of a single pull-tab to the total weight donated, it is estimated Dwayne gathered 600,000 pull-tabs for the donation. He did it with the help of his mother, friends, and businesses dropping off cans. He welcomes anyone to do so at his home on 403 St. Mary Street, New Iberia.

When asked why he keeps doing it every day, Gaskins replied, “Because I love it, Neale. I love it. I’m going to keep on doing it until the good Lord stops me.”

Gaskins has been collecting pull-tabs since 2006. About five years ago, he donated 380 lbs. to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis that also benefitted St. Jude Hospital.

Dwayne is already a few pounds into his next batch, and he is planning for bigger and better. If you would like to learn more about the Ronald McDonald House and how you can get involved click here.

Miller said locally a Shamrock Shake promotion donates 25¢ for each sale. Customers can also round up orders to the nearest dollar to donate change to charity.

Last month a couple of Miller’s restaurants alone collected over $2,000, so he reminds the community a lot can be done by one person but even more can be done by everybody chipping in.

“It’s compounding. If everybody does something, it ends up to be a lot,” Miller concluded.