A man from South Dakota has donated more than $100,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation after collecting more than one million aluminium cans.

Gerald Schied spent a month taking the cans, and other metals, to a recycling plant and wanted to give the proceeds to charity.

“I kept seeing Make-A-Wish commercials on TV and newspapers, something was drawing me in there, I looked at my son and said: ‘Why don’t we just haul them in and have them make the check out to Make-A-Wish,'” Schied told USA Today.

His first donation resulted in a $65,000 cheque and the second $40,000. By his count, he had collected more than a million cans.

“I think we were close to a million and a quarter but we were shy of that,” he said.

To ease his collection process, Schied built his own can crusher. The crushed cans are then stored in large containers that can hold about 9,000 cans.

“I had 131 (totes) shipped to my house and stacked on top of each other in two layers,” Schied said.

Sue Salter, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish South Dakota said: “One of the most incredible things about Gerald, I think, is his heart. He has the biggest heart for children, particularly children with critical illnesses.

”And he not only raises money for us, raises awareness for our mission, but he also serves as an active volunteer as one of our wish granters out here.

The work that Gerald is doing, and the people who support him in this project, they bring that hope to life for these kids that we serve and their families.”