Just in time for spring cleaning, St. John’s Episcopal Church is hosting a free recycling event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 14 at 127 State Street in downtown Kirkland (a block south of the Heathman Hotel).

The church has teamed up with Issaquah’s non-profit 1 Green Planet to offer this free recycling opportunity. Bring your recyclable items – from computers to cars, modems to motorcycles and laptops to lawn mowers – it doesn’t matter if they work or not.

1 Green Planet recycles those unwanted items and uses the proceeds from the recycled raw materials to help fund operations and benefit local charities, homeless shelters and food banks. Seattle Children’s and St. Jude’s Children’s Research hospitals are among those assisted through the recycling donations.

There are no strings attached and no charge for leaving as many items – big or small – as you want to haul to the church, said Cathy Christensen, director of Children’s Ministry at St. John’s, who created the church’s Guatemala Ministry in 2008.

“There is absolutely no charge. People can bring as much as they want and just leave the items,” Christensen emphasizes, adding that donations to support the Guatemala ministry will be gladly and cheerfully accepted.

Those donations will help pay for work being done this summer by a 10-member team of volunteers from St. John’s who will travel to Guatemala to distribute wheelchairs and water filters, build a house, work in an orphanage for disabled teens and children, and distribute donated food and clothing. Besides wheelchairs and water filters, monetary donations help pay for food, clothing, medical and building supplies, while participants pay for their own transportation.

For additional information about items that can be donated, visit www.stjohnskirkland.org and click on the recycling event link.