the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Cinnaminson NJ, 70-year old Air Force veteran, Cinnaminson, NJ resident Jim Alturo – who spent 40 years working in Center City Philadelphia – started the “Jim’s Cigarette Butt Challenge” to raise funds for the American Lung Association, clean up the streets in South Jersey and challenge others in the Greater Philadelphia area and the nation to do the same. He has picked up more than 24,000 butts in his New Jersey community in 2023 and has a fundraising goal of $35,000 for 2024.
James Alturo started his quest to make New Jersey cleaner and free of cigarette butt debris as a hobby in 2022 during his retirement. He was inspired to start walking in his 55 plus resident community and picking up trash and hoping to improve his overall health. He soon realized that the majority of trash was cigarette butts from his two streets – so he challenged himself to count the number of cigarettes butts he could collect in a year.
In Jan 2023, he picked up a counter and started walking every day (weather permitting) and counting. His goal was to collect 15,000 cigarette butts (or 1,363 a month). He increased his half hour walks to 2 hours a day in order to meet his goal. By the end of the year, he had collected 24,185 cigarette butts. He was shocked and decided to donate .01 to the American Lung Association for each cigarette butt he had picked up.
When Lung Association Executive Director Caroline Hutchinson heard about his story, she reached out to thank Jim and collaborate on a 2024 fundraiser. In January 2024, Jim kicked off his “Jim’s Cigarette Butt Challenge” with a fundraising goal of $35,000 to benefit the American Lung Association’s work to create a tobacco free future.
Jim is off to a great start in 2024, has raised nearly $2,000 to date and picked up over 3,800 butts in January alone. To join Jim’s Cigarette Butt Challenge or donate, visit his page at BeALungSaver.funraise.org/
To start your own Cigarette Butt Challenge or DIY fundraiser for the American Lung Association, visit Be a Lung-Saver! (funraise.org).
I love Wing Bikes. Use my referral link to get a discount now! http://wingbikes.refr.cc/jamesfoytlin?t=tw
