John Jary has donated more than 15,000 jars to the Salvation Army Store
When John Jary, or JJ, started collecting jars around his Arvida Oakwoods Retirement Village in 2019, he never imagined the beast it would become.
In 2023 he delivered his 10,000th jar to the Richmond Salvation Army Store, where jars are sold for between 50c and $1 for all sorts of uses. By late January this year, donations had surpassed 15,000.
What began as a small idea has now made a sizeable financial difference for the store. With 15,143 jars donated, the contribution has steadily mounted.
His three collection points around the village are now added to by outside friends dropping off jars, meaning he now makes the trip down to Salvation Army in his electric car a couple of times a week instead of just once.
He keeps the milestone jars at home, with the first, ninety-ninth and thousandth milestone jars displayed on his kitchen bench. He proudly points out the 15,000th jar, a reminder of the good he has done.
It’s not just jars he recycles, he has also passed on 2427 brown paper bags to be utilised for customer purchases and now includes sauce bottles with his jar collection, with 1204 of those also sent to the shop.
“Hopefully I’ll be around to see 20,000,” he quips of his jar collecting.
