From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed May 21 2003 - 14:08:50 EDT
May 21, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
When college students move from their on-campus housing at the end of the
school year they often leave a lot behind. What to do with all that stuff is a
vexing question for colleges and universities.
At Calvin College the answer for the last 10 years or so has been to work with
a local church - Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church - to turn the leftovers
into cold, hard cash for the church. Students are told at the end of the
semester that anything they can't or don't want to take home can be donated to
the church. There are drop boxes for the students and everything is collected
and left in the lobby of each residence hall. After students have all moved
out, Oakdale Park volunteers collect the goods.
So on Thursday, May 22 volunteers from Oakdale Park will meet at their church
at 10:30 a.m. and then head over to the Calvin residence halls to pick up the
donations. They plan to be to Calvin by about 11 a.m. and will spend about an
hour driving from hall to hall, loading the donations into their vehicles. On
Tuesday, May 27 the volunteers will make a similar run to the Calvin Knollcrest
East Apartments. That pick-up will be at about 10 a.m.
Then, on June 19-21 Oakdale Park will hold a gigantic yard sale, selling not
only the Calvin donations, but also a variety of other items. All of the
proceeds go to fund youth ministries at the church. Most years the sale clears
around $4,000, with about half of the proceeds coming from the items donated by
Calvin students.
John Witte, dean of residence life at Calvin, says it's a win-win situation.
"Students like the idea of being able to give away items that they don't want
to bring home," he says. "And Oakdale Park gets good, quality clothing for
their sale. It's really a nice way to cut down on garbage and promote
stewardship of our resources."
Contact John Witte of Calvin at 526-6546 or Deb Tuitel of Oakdale Park CRC at
862-8039 (cell phone)
-end-
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