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Disabled man helps those in need

Although 22-year-old Jordan McCourt is confined to a wheelchair, suffers from seizures and cerebral palsy and has a hole in his heart, he is working to help those less fortunate. "It makes me happy to help.

Although 22-year-old Jordan McCourt is confined to a wheelchair, suffers from seizures and cerebral palsy and has a hole in his heart, he is working to help those less fortunate.

"It makes me happy to help. If I didn't they would get sad," McCourt said, while in his Sandy Hook home with his grandparents Sandi and David Cavalier, who care for the young man.

McCourt and his grandparents have been collecting bottles since March 2009 to raise money to help people in need on the Sunshine Coast.

The effort started when the Lighthouse Pub contacted McCourt to see if he would be interested in picking up the empty bottles and cans from the establishment once a week. The only stipulation was that the money from recycling the empties be used on the Sunshine Coast.

McCourt and his grandparents took on the job and soon family and friends were donating their empties to the cause as well.

So began a weekly visit to the Caps Off Bottle Depot in Sechelt that resulted in $900 being raised in 2009 and $1,300 in 2010. This year's donations are adding up, and Sandi expects the final number to be higher than last year's total.

Each year McCourt uses some of his bottle money to buy Christmas presents for all of the Special Olympians on the Coast. He uses the remainder to help a person or a cause in need of funding.

In 2009, McCourt donated $534 to the Coast's Special Olympic team to help pay for the cost of travel to compete.

In 2010, he heard of a person who recently had a stroke who was in need of an electric wheelchair. He and his grandmother sourced a suitable chair and paid for all the repairs and upgrades needed, at a price tag of almost $900.

McCourt and his grandmother were on hand to see the gift be received with tears of joy from the person who could not have afforded the chair otherwise.

"It made me feel good," McCourt recalled.

This year McCourt has yet to choose a charity or deserving person to bless with a gift, but Sandi hopes they will hear of someone soon.

If they don't hear of a specific person in need, McCourt may give the bottle drive profits to a deserving charity this year.

The year-round fundraiser is a lot of work for the 22-year-old and his family, with weekly trips to pick up bottles and hours spent sorting and cashing in empties in Sechelt, but Sandi says they love to do it.

"Jordan is very social, so we spend time to meet and greet people and we know John and Heather [MacKenzie] at the bottle depot really well. They are just wonderful people. Wherever we go, he stops and talks and he enjoys that," Sandi said.

Jordan doesn't let his disability stop him from doing the things he wants to do or from giving back to the community.

On Mondays he works at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Sechelt, on Tuesdays he recycles bottles, and on Thursdays he helps out at the Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store. He has also recently applied for a paying job to make a little extra money for himself.

"He's not a sitter. He's a worker," Sandi noted.

McCourt says he does all his volunteer work to help out others in need and he notes the effort also helps him feel good about himself.

If you want to donate to McCourt's year-round bottle drive, you can drop off empties in a bag with his name on it at the Caps Off Bottle Depot in Sechelt behind Trail Bay Mall.