A Springfield organization is collecting clean plastic bottle caps to transform into a park bench that will honor a Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy who died in the line of duty last year.

The Exchange Club of Springfield is requesting 250 pounds of plastic bottle caps for the bench, which will have Deputy Matthew Yates’ name engraved on it. Heat Shrink Sleeve Cap

The club hopes to place the bench in the Clark County Fairgrounds this July before the start of the Clark County Fair.

Yates was shot while responding to a call in Harmony Twp. on July 24 by a South Charleston man, Cole White, 27.

“When that tragedy happened, we all got together and thought about what we could do in memory of him, in honor of him,” Exchange Club member Don Warner said.

Exchange Club members Beverly Sewell and Karen Lotz said the club thought of the bench as a memorial for Deputy Yates after a few members worked on a similar bench at St. Teresa’s church.

Club members will host bottle cap collection days on March 1, April 5 and May 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Clark County Public Safety Building, located at 130 N. Fountain Ave. in Springfield.

Scheduled pick-ups are available during these dates as well, according to an Exchange Club press release.

Club members are accepting plastic caps from drink bottles, medicine bottles, milk or creamer jugs, baby food, sticks of deodorant, toothpaste tubes and more.

Some lids from food containers will also be accepted.

People wanting more information can call Lotz at 937-390-1724, Sewell at 937-390-1467 or Warner at 937-631-1104.

The Exchange Club may create other benches if they receive a surplus of plastic donations.

White’s mother, Jodie Arbuckle, 47, of Springfield, was also killed on July 24. She was also shot by White while checking in on him at his house out of concern for his mental health. White died in a fire that erupted in his home that day.

Red Bottle Cap Sydney Dawes covers news in Montgomery County for Dayton Daily News.