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Burn Awareness Week—Feb. 2 - 8 Donate aluminum cans, help burned children's recovery Aluminum Cans for Burned Children, or ACBC, is a special aluminum can recycling program conducted by local firefighters and businesses throughout South Carolina.    The fund raising program asks citizens, volunteer and church groups, and establishments to donate used aluminum cans to the program sponsors.   Money earned through the recycling program pays for non-medical items essential to the recovery of pediatric burn patients at the MUSC Children’s Hospital.    ACBC funds also have been used to build and maintain nine mobile fire safety houses for fire and burn prevention education across the state. South Carolina launched this program in 1986 and it has been growing ever since.   Fire departments from the following counties support the ACBC programs. Abbeville, Allendale, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Dorchester, Fairfield, Florence, Georgetown, Greenville, Greenwood, Hampton, Horry, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lee, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, Williamsburg and York.   Each year, the pediatric burn team at the Children’s Hospital treats more than 100 young burn patients. This burn team is composed of doctors, nurse specialists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, dieticians, child life therapists and psychiatrists. MUSC is the state's referral center for serious burn injuries.   Donated cans earn about a penny a can. In nearly 15 years of the ACBC program, more than 135 million used aluminum cans have been recycled. That translates into more than $1.6 million dollars. South Carolinians buy about 700 million aluminum cans each year. If half of these cans were donated to ACBC, more than $3 million could be raised.    Every day, firefighters battle to save the homes and lives of people struck by fires. They also understand that the devastating effects of fires do not disappear when the fire is extinguished, especially when children suffer serious burns.    To meet the special needs of burned children and make a contribution to each child's recovery, South Carolina’s firefighters have joined forces to establish a statewide ACBC program.    Money from ACBC is used to purchase items and services such as special protective clothing, burn ointments and dressings, therapeutic toys, food, shelter and transportation cost for the families of young patients, some of who have lost everything in a fire.     For information contact Mary Wiltshire at  792-9579, visit http://www.sconfire.com/acbc.htm, or e-mail  acbc@musc.edu. Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.