Elementary students collecting 1 million pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities

ALGONQUIN, Il. (WLS) -- Hundreds of kids at Conley Elementary School are hoping to collect one million pop tabs to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Pop tabs, or pop tops, are the little, silver contraptions on the top of aluminum cans that help you open it.

"After you're done drinking a soda you can take off the pop tabs and then you can bring them to school," Third Grader Jayden Abbott said.

There are five Ronald McDonald Houses scattered around the Chicagoland area. They house families whose children are being treated in local hospitals. Houses provide rooms, food and support for families when they need it most.

The foundation partners with United Scrap Metal, a company that buys the pop tabs at market value, then makes an additional donation to the foundation.

Conley students wanted to help their local Ronald McDonald home, so they started collecting pop tabs in January.

"We're so happy and so proud of how this took off, we just never dreamed we would collect so many and be at this point," Program Aide Regina Szpak said.

Students and teachers said they think they've collected about 20,000 pop tabs so far.

Though it may take some time to make their goal, they're committed to hitting that one million mark.