Siblings reach $10k goal

In just under five weeks, Dimitri and Gabby Armstrong have managed to collect more than $10,000 in bottles and cans for the BC Wildlife Park. 

The young Juniper siblings reached their $10,000 goal this week, they tell Castanet. That's enough to feed the animals for a full month.

"It’s just amazing that we’re able to help such a good cause and do something great for the community," Gabby says.

The fundraiser started on April 23, with just the bottles from the Armstrong household (about $34).

"It just escalated from there," Gabby says.

Before they knew it, people were dropping off recyclables on their front yard daily.

"Random people would start honking at us. Some people would come by and say, 'Sorry, I don’t have any bottles, but here’s $20 to go towards your cause.’ It’s amazing," she adds.

As of Tuesday afternoon (May 26), the pot was at $10,215.

The Armstrongs are frequent visitors of the wildlife park, hence their fundraising efforts.

"We practically lived there for three years," Dimitri says with a laugh.

Gabby notes the bottle drive taught them about perseverance.

"You set a goal and want to achieve it, and little by little you will get there," she says.

The family plans to take down the signs in front of their home, advertising the bottle drive, down. A big thank you note will replace them.

"Thank you so much for helping us get there. Everyone has donated to a great cause and we’re able to keep the wildlife park operating for another month. Thank you to everyone," Gabby says, adding they'll continue to to run the bottle drive as long as recyclables come in.

Mom Alex is, of course, unbelievable proud of her kids' achievement. 

"It was a pretty ambitious goal of $10,000 and I thought, OK, yeah I’ll support them with whatever they want to try, and they just powered through. Every single day, they were out there sorting in the garage and we went to the depot every day. The commitment that these guys showed, it makes me so proud," she tells Castanet. "It teaches a life skill. Like Gabby said, the perseverance. They’re going to take this with them well into their future."