He sure could have whipped up some sort of patriotic, imaginative initiative- had he been either imaginative or a patriot.
People used to peel, clean and crush tin cans and deliver them to depots to help the war effort.
There is a vestige of that America left....
Your comment is very correct. This serves two purposes. First, it may help solve a problem and secondly it engages people, even if their help is of nominal value. The president of the US has the world's resources at his finger tips and many have judiciously used this power to America's benefit for 200 years. Unfortunately, the current imbecile in office hasn't a clue that he has these resources at his fingertips, and even if he did, he does not have the people skills to ask someone for help. Our POTUS is really "Patheticism of the United States."
Some people used to make coffee cups out of those same cans. Burns your lips to drink hot coffee out of them.