OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — For over 20 years, Robert Lee of Omaha has been collecting pop tabs.
"My leg was giving me troubles. Couldn't get dressed to go to work and I haven't gone back to work since. I woke up two months later an amputee, a four-way bypass and a lot of surgeries," Lee said.
That is when he found out about the Ronald McDonald House.
"You can get a lot of good help, free help, so instead of throwing them away I started collecting it," Lee said.
It has become a habit of his.
"I'll pull them right away. Here's another one see. You never get done. Sometimes I have little kids bring two or three tabs," Lee said.
Over a million pop tabs collected in the last six years but he hasn't done it alone. Friends, family, schools, neighbors and others in the community have contributed.
"A lot of good people. If I could just collect all the beer drinkers, I'd have 10 million pop tabs," Lee said.
He's done his fair share of adding to the collection too.
His favorite, "Coca-Cola, I drink Coca-Cola or Mountain Dew" and we asked him how many he personally adds to the collection each day, "3 or 4 a day," Lee said.
This will be Lee's third donation in the last 20 years and said he'll keep collecting as long as he can.
"He's definitely a hero. There's a lot of people (who) know him, he's the tab man," Jay Barratt, Robert's son-in-law said. "When he decides he is done doing it, we'll definitely take over the business. We'll make sure that Ronald McDonald House gets their fair share of tabs from our family."
A simple task, Lee thinks everyone can do.
"You just got to take the time to do (it) and you know I live alone so I make room for it," Lee said.
And for the tab man, it's his way to give back to a good cause.
"It's good, we all need help sometimes," Lee said.
All the money from the tabs that get collected and recycled goes to helping to pay the monthly electric bill at the Ronald McDonald House.
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