The Cans That Saved Choir
When My Daughter’s School Needed Cash, My Frugal, Recycling Chinese Parents Showed Me How To Raise It
Cling… Clang… Clank. From inside my apartment, I winced at the noise my parents were making as they sorted bottles and cans out on the cramped balcony. With as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I called to my mother in Chinese, “How many do you have this time?”
“Eight hundred and six pieces, that’s $40.30!” she answered. “That makes it $309.55 in total—a decent month’s salary back home!”
I’d been living in my West Los Angeles apartment for a little over four years when my parents came for a six-month visit …
