http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9008644
JOHNSON CITY "? Those involved in a local effort to help sick children were recently revealed to be the victims of a hoax that has spread across much of the United States.
Through e-mail and word of mouth, information spread that plastic bottle caps could be redeemed for radiation or chemotherapy treatments needed by children with cancer. Individuals, civic groups, schools and other organizations in several states have been sad, frustrated and angered upon finding the claims to be false.
Just more than two weeks ago, two city of Johnson City employees heard about the so-called program "? this version of the story involved trading in 150 caps for a radiation treatment "? and believed it would be simple to integrate the effort into the city's existing internal recycling program.
Margaret Hayes, facilities manager at City Hall, learned about the effort from her granddaughter, a student at Lamar Elementary School, while Keisha Bratton, a writer/editor in the Community Relations Department and chairwoman of the city's Green Team, heard about it through "a friend of a friend"? with a sick child.
"My granddaughter came to me first, then the following Monday I saw that Keisha had posted a bulletin about it in the (City Hall) break room, and I said, "?This is wonderful.' Me and my girls even went to every department and dug bottle caps out of the trash,"? Hayes said.
She said she received full cooperation and exuberance from all departments at City Hall, with the effort quickly extending throughout the city organization to other departments such as police, fire, parks and recreation, public works and water/sewer services.
"Everybody was feeling great. By the end of the first week, we had collected 50,000 bottle caps,"? Hayes said. "We thought, "?Wow, if it takes 150 caps for one treatment, we are going to be able to help out a lot of sick children.'"?
That first 50,000 was loaded into Bratton's car and taken to the "friend of a friend,"? who quickly discovered no one knew where to deliver the caps for redemption and no local medical organizations had knowledge of the program.
"We came to find out no one really knew where the information originated and the more we went back down the line to try to find out, the more we realized it just wasn't true,"? Bratton said. "The best thing we can do now is get the word out that this a hoax."?
Hayes, visibly angry while speaking to the NET News Service, has refused to give up without finding out who started the rumor and/or helping sick children in some way.
"We're going to hang onto the caps, in case there is a chance it will come true some day,"? Hayes said. "If there's any other way we can help, we want to do it.
"I'm just really hurt and disappointed and I don't know what we need to do. Maybe when this story comes out, we'll find out the truth."?
The rumor has spread so far, and has been believed by so many, the American Cancer Society has posted a statement on its Internet site.
The statement reads: "This e-mail claims that a large number of bottle caps, some say 1,000, others 1,500 or even 10,000, can be redeemed for one chemotherapy treatment for a patient in need. The e-mail, which began making rounds in the USA in 2008, generated several news stories in Virginia and West Virginia, some of which repeated the claims while others refuted them.
"After extensive research, the American Cancer Society has concluded that the Plastic Bottle Caps for Chemo program is a hoax. The origin of the hoax remains unclear, but it is similar to other "?cash for trash' hoaxes that have circulated worldwide for years."?
West Virginia appears to have been the state most heavily affected recently by the prank. In late August, stores and churches across the state had to do away with hundreds of collection bins and thousands of caps after discovering the hoax, according to The Associated Press.
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