Sarah Cook, 15, looks like your average teenager from the outside. But it is what you can't see from the outside that makes the Butler teen so special.

Sarah's generosity has been most noticed by those at the Ronald McDonald House in Pittsburgh, for whom she voluntarily collects pull tabs from soda cans.

To date, Sarah has collected more than 432 pounds of tabs.

"I like helping people and doing for others. I want to be a witness," explained Sarah of her service, inspired by her Christian faith.

The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for families who travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles outside their communities to seek medical treatment for their children.

Located near Children's Hospital, it can lodge 24 families.

In recognition of her service to others, Renee Summerville from the Greater Butler Mart McDonald's presented Sarah with a silver bracelet recently from McDonald's charities.

"We wanted to do something nice for her because of her dedication to pull tab collecting," said Summerville. "It is great to see a young girl volunteering because she wants to and knows it is right - not because she has to.

"Her contributions are appreciated. She has had some amazing results," said Summerville, who also noted it offers hope for the future to see young people taking action out of their own kindness instead of as a school or church assignment.

The donated pull tabs are taken to a local scrap metal yard, where they are weighed and exchanged for cash. The money generated plays an important role in the operating costs of the homes.

It was a conversation at a Christmas dinner when Cook was in fourth grade that spurred her to start collecting the tabs.

"There was an older lady from the church who went around the tables collecting pop tabs from the children. I talked with Mrs. Bernice Hook, who told me about the Ronald McDonald House," explained Sarah.

"She thought this was something she could do," said her mother, Sandra Protzman-Cook. "Mrs. Hook got her started with a little cardboard house to collect them in.

"She then had the idea to go bigger and that's when she challenged the school to help out," Protzman-Cook added.

Sarah will be graduating from eighth Grade at St. Luke's Lutheran School in Cabot.

Last summer, Sarah and her mother took the pull tabs down to the Ronald McDonald House in Squirrel Hill. They were given a tour of the house, where Sarah met some of the patients and residents.

"There are families as far away as Turkey staying at the Ronald McDonald House, and some families have been there for three years.

"Sometimes the children are cured and sometimes they are not," Sarah said. "I got to meet one little girl about 4 years old, she was on her way to the hospital to receive her daily treatment," she added.

"God has blessed me and my family with good health and this is something we can do - because we all drink pop," she said. "At school I will continue to place containers in the classrooms, keeping a tally of how much each grade collects," she said.

"The winners will get ice cream at the school picnic. I will also have prizes for second and third place too," she added. Every year, the pounds raised has increased; Sarah's goal for 2006 is 200 pounds.

Sarah said she believes anyone can volunteer, and children her age should be confident they can contribute in real ways.

Sarah's parents, Kenneth Cook and Sandra Protzman-Cook, are proud of their daughter and said she gives 110 percent in whatever she does.

"She is very dedicated. Whether she is working on a project, school assignment or any task, she stays with it until it is finished," Sarah's mother said.

Sarah's seventh grade teacher, Cindy Smith, sums things up this way:

"Sarah is an angel that was put on this earth to do God's work," Smith said. "She is simply amazing and gives God the glory for all she does."

Cook will attend Butler Intermediate School in the fall.