‘A gentle soul.’ Tri-Cities man walks highways, collecting pop tabs to help sick kids

Charles Hoffarth has been walking the highways around the Tri-Cities for decades, first collecting hubcaps and then aluminum cans.

He earned the nickname “Hubcap Charlie” from many curious passersby.

But when auto manufacturers ditched metal for plastic, his focus turned to soda and beer cans.

He recycles the cans for money, but not before removing the pop tabs and setting them aside in empty coffee jugs and other containers.

“I do enjoy walking the highways. ... A lot of people honk their horn at me. A lot of people watch out for me,” said Hoffarth. “I really appreciate them.”

On Tuesday, Hoffarth handed over 2 1/2 years worth of tabs to Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Inland Northwest.

His collection is believed to have weighed between 160 and 170 pounds.

And with 1,128 tabs equaling 1 pound, it is estimated his donation totaled from 180,000 to 200,000 tabs.

A volunteer with the Spokane-based nonprofit now will sort through all of the pop tabs to make sure they are metallic only. The tabs then are recycled at a local business, with the charity saying it raises on average $6,000 a year from the program.

Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Inland Northwest operates two homes in Spokane and one in Coeur d’Alene, along with family rooms in two Spokane hospitals and a care mobile.

The original Spokane home opened in 1987 with 14 rooms, and now has 22 private guest rooms and suites. A second house opened March 17 with 34 rooms, but was temporarily closed two days later due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The North Idaho house serves eight families.

Family members of premature babies and kids dealing with cancer, a critical illness or an injury can stay in one of the homes at no-cost during the child’s hospitalization. All meals and transportation to and from the hospital also are provided

The aluminum tab program helps with day-to-day functions of those facilities.

Bob McLean, the Inland Northwest charity’s development director, said about 60 percent of the families they serve live in the Columbia Basin.

In order to stay in one of the homes, the hospital where their child is getting medical care must be 40 miles or farther from their own house.

“It becomes their home away from home,” said McLean. “The nice thing about it is they’re staying with other families and can get that emotional support ... because they know what they’re going through.”

McLean told the Herald that he first heard about Hoffarth a few weeks ago and can tell he puts a lot of work behind his daily collecting, but knows it also is his way of giving back.

He presented Hoffarth with a gift certificate to McDonald’s, some red-and-white Christmas socks and a Ronald McDonald face mask.

“We just want to thank you very much at the Ronald McDonald House for all your efforts going out and collecting these pop tabs,” said McLean. “It goes a long way for the families and kids who stay with us.”

Tom Heye, a Tri-Cities attorney, said he got to know Hoffarth through his mother, who was a client. Before her death in 2013, she designated Heye as power of attorney to help watch over her son.

Hoffarth lives alone but has made friends at First Baptist Church in Richland, Les Schwab and Northwest Rentals on Wellsian Way,

He has never worked and he cannot drive. He suffers from a type of epileptic seizure for which there is no medication to prevent them from coming on.

When Hoffarth leaves his house, he always wears a bicycle helmet to protect his head because he doesn’t know when he will have a seizure and suddenly fall down.

Daily collections

Hoffarth also wears reflective clothing on his daily collection walks.

“His joy in life is walking the highways and collecting cans so that he can get the tabs and pass them on to the Ronald McDonald House,” said Heye, who noted that Tuesday’s news conference was the first time he’s seen Hoffarth out without his helmet.

He picked up Hoffarth and all of the pop tab containers stashed in his living room, and drove them to the meeting spot at Northwest Rentals. The containers were transferred to the back of McLean’s truck to be driven to Spokane.

Heye said when Hoffarth saved up one or two containers of tabs, he used to turn them in to Richland’s Northwest Rentals.

In March 2018, the lawyer suggested Hoffarth wait one year and see how much he could collect in that time. The year extended to 2 1/2 years, and Heye said this past summer he weighed the containers and Hoffarth had 155 pounds.

Heye said in addition to the money that goes to Ronald McDonald House Charities, people in the beer and soda pop industry will donate a dialysis machine to the Kidney Dialysis Foundation when someone collects a million tabs.

“It’s really highly beneficial for people to collect tabs,” he said, noting that people could keep a plastic bag in their kitchen to gather pull tabs as they use cans.

“If everybody in the Tri-Cities was doing that, there would be a phenomenal amount of tabs being collected every day. Once you fill the bag, take it over to Northwest Rentals. That would be a great service to humanity.”

Hoffarth keeps a log of all the people he sees and where he picks up cans, including certain businesses during his walks to and from McDonald’s for breakfast. Motorists have even stopped along the highway and given Hoffarth their cans to help his cause, said Heye.

“He’s just a gentle soul and this is his love in life now,” he added after Tuesday’s event. “This is a big thing for him. That was just enjoyable to see how well he handled it.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 10:21 AM.