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Alcoa presents donation to peds burn unit Employees at Alcoa’s Mount Holly facility have been drinking a lot of soda in aluminum cans, and children in the burn unit of MUSC Children’s Hospital are benefiting from it. For the past year, Mount Holly employees have  participated in the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children (ACBC) Program, started by South Carolina’s firefighters and MUSC Children’s Hospital in cooperation with Alcoa to ease the recovery process for MUSC’s pediatric burn patients and their families.  ACBC is a statewide aluminum can recycling program that raises money for South Carolina’s only referral center for pediatric burns, MUSC Children’s Hospital Pediatric Burn Center. Through the recycling of cans, Mount Holly employees raised $620 in 2003.  “Burned children suffer more than anyone could ever imagine; they have to endure even more pain in order to get better,” said Mary Wiltshire, MUSC Children’s Hospital ACBC Program. “The burn team is able to use the ACBC funds to make purchases that will ease the child’s discomfort—anything from a toy for distraction to the state-of-the-art Pediatric Burn Treatment Room, built out of a closet in the Children’s Hospital.” The funds raised from the program are used for non-medical items that are not covered by insurance. Items may include special protective clothing, burn ointments and creams, therapeutic toys, bicycles and sports equipment for muscle exercise, or any other expense directly related to the recovery of a child who is not covered by insurance. About ACBC Aluminum Cans for Burned Children is a special aluminum can recycling program conducted by local firefighters and by 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. Donated cans earn about a penny each.  In nearly 16 years of the ACBC program, more than 130 million aluminum cans have been recycled. That translates into more than $1.5 million dollars.  For more information on ACBC, visit http://www.musckids.com/about/dept_prog/acbc.htm.  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.