1st Choice Recycling supports #MorganStrong

A Wisconsin-based recycling company is coming together to support Morgan Gorst, a seventh grader who was diagnosed with brain cancer in September.

When 1st Choice Recycling saw police and fire departments, businesses and community members raising money to help the Gorst family with medical expenses, the metal scrap recycler started its own fundraising campaign under the hashtag #MorganStrong.

“People started getting together and organizing fundraisers,” First Choice Recycling owner Larry Lang says. “It’s a close-knit community. There’s only 2,000 people.”

Through Nov. 30, the company will donate 5 cents for each pound of aluminum cans and batteries collected. First Choice Recycling will present a check to the Gorst family during a benefit Dec. 1.

In August, Gorst visited his doctor after falling ill for a week. An MRI revealed that what the family assumed to be Lyme Disease was Glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer that was causing Gorst’s headaches and nausea. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy, the family says.

Lang had a chance to meet the Gorst family at a fundraiser at a local restaurant this month.

“They are gracious, but shy about having people do that for them,” Lang says. “Something like this happens and nobody can understand it.”

Lang says he wants to help the family because his brother passed away from lung cancer at age 19.

“My brother went through it,” he says. “I was there on my living room floor when my brother died. It’s one of those things that you can never make sense of. It affects every race, every age. There isn’t anything you can do about it but come together for the family.”

“We’re doing our small part. People are coming in, so we’ll see how much we can raise,” Lang adds.

Community members can drop off cans and batteries with the #MorganStrong coupon during business hours Monday through Friday at 1st Choice Recycling in Spencer, Wisconsin.