Dot ‘the can lady’ retires but not from helping students

More stories from Kathya Castro

Dorothy Sedley unlocks one of the bins from which she collects recyclables on campus in order to donate money to the State Center Community College Foundation.

Photo by: Ramuel "Ram" Reyes

Dorothy Sedley unlocks one of the bins from which she collects recyclables on campus in order to donate money to the State Center Community College Foundation.

With a broken heart, 86-year-old Dorothy Sedley, more commonly known as “Dot the Can Lady”, has retired from her volunteer position on the Fresno City College campus.

Sedley, who has been a fixture on campus for 16 years, will no longer be able to raise money for scholarships for FCC students through her recycling operation.

To date, Sedley has donated $80,000 towards financial aid funds for students on the FCC campus. The money goes directly to the State Center Community College Foundation and Sedley helps decide the recipients of the scholarship. Her funds have helped numerous organizations, including the arts, math, sciences and many more.

She said her decision is due to her ailing health but also because of college staff that have refused to cooperate with her.

“My problem is that I cannot continue to walk for eight straight hours every single day,” Sedley said.

With two artificial hips, she finds she can no longer maintain the pace necessary to keep the organization running.

She started campaigning to the SCCCD foundation and the FCC administration a year ago to allow her to get a golf cart so she could drive around and continue what she has been doing all these years. Sedley said she would pay for the golf cart and all associated liabilities.

However, because she is not officially an employee of the college, Sedley’s request was denied, despite her having signed a liability agreement.

After all attempts to reach a compromise failed, Sedley decided it was time to hand the responsibility of collecting the cans to the local Conservation Corps who had, in the past, provided the blue recycling bins on campus. Sedley will continue to be on campus one day a week to collect the cans from the inside the buildings.

She will spend some of her time as a volunteer in the tutorial center and in “the Zone”, the athletic department’s own tutorial center, as well as the two career centers.

The Go-Green Scholarship which Sedley founded will continue to be awarded to deserving students.

“If you have enough to lead a decent life,” Sedley said, “you can find a way to spare a little for those who don’t have anything.”

She also shares some wisdom she learned from her mother.

“If you do a favor for someone, don’t expect or ask them to pay you back, whether it’s a material favor like giving them something or doing something that helps them,” Sedley said. “Just hope they will do the same for somebody else, and ultimately, only then will the favor come back to you.”