NILES — A longstanding Niles area organization kicked off its 85th anniversary year with an event they have done for decades: picking up and accepting items from homes and businesses for recycling.

Members of St. Mary’s Troop 579, a Boy Scouts of America Scouts troop, spent 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 4 collecting newspapers, rinsed cans with labels removed and small scrap metal from people who pulled up their vehicles in a line to the troop’s semi-truck trailer on S. State Street in Niles, behind the parking lot of St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception Church.

Other scouts and their parent volunteers drove to as far as Dowagiac to pick up recyclable products, driving through thick, wet snowflakes and a light wind.

The event was the first of four recycling drop-offs this year, the others being 8 a.m. to noon April 11, July 11 and Oct. 10.

Proceeds from recycling the products will go toward the troop’s general fund, which can finance monthly camp-outs, troop equipment and award ceremonies. The troop set a goal to earn at least $400 at each event.

Renee Kurtzweil, BSA’s Michiana district executive, said the event is more than a fundraiser. It also provides a great community service and aids in nature conservation efforts, two missions that have been present with the national organization since it began in 1910.

“The scouts were always doing can drives and aluminum drives for war efforts,” she said. “It’s always been ingrained in them in the process of scouting, taking care of your community.”

Community service and conservation have long been present in St. Mary’s Troop 579, too. Kurtzweil and parent volunteer, Stewart Nichols, could not pinpoint an exact date when the recycling drive began. It had been around for decades, they estimated.

Kurtzweil said Troop 579 is one of the few in the area that still hosts a recycling drive. Gone are the World War II-era days when nearly all troops seemed to collect items. Now, the troop is working to promote the event to residents in areas such as Buchanan and Dowagiac, where drives are no longer around.

Troop 579 plans to keep its drives going well into the future, next to the church it has long been affiliated with. Just within the church’s doors is a plaque recognizing the nearly 120 Eagle Scouts of the troop since 1935.

St. Mary’s Church itself is celebrating a historic anniversary, 150 years. The church and the troop hope to host an event to celebrate their joint anniversaries.

Two Eagle Scouts will contribute to St. Mary’s and their troops’ history with their spring projects. Kurtzweil said one scout will create a fire pit for youth on church property, while a second will construct a gaga ball pit, an outdoors game, at St. Mary’s School’s playground.

A third scout will work on a project with another organization with Christian roots, the Niles-Buchanan YMCA branch.