By Jessa Stephens
Housing and Food Services
From April 28 to May 10, students who live on campus will have the opportunity to donate any usable items they don't want or simply can't fit in their cars to the Trash to Treasure program.
United Way volunteers will sort through the donations, give any nonperishable food to local food banks and put the remaining items up for sale Saturday, May 24, at Beaver Stadium.
"Trash to Treasure is another example of the extraordinary partnership between Penn State and the United Way, from which each partner benefits, but the community and the environment benefit more. There simply is no downside to this event," said Ellie Beaver, executive director of the Centre County United Way.
"Thanks to the support of Tim Curley and Intercollegiate Athletics, we are able to hold this year's sale at Beaver Stadium, which will save the expense of storing and double-handling goods before the sale date," said Fraser Grigor, associate director of special projects for Housing and Food Services.
At the sale, individuals will be able to enter a drawing to win one of four authentic, autographed Penn State footballs and will have the opportunity to purchase donated items at reasonable prices. Students typically donate everything from appliances and athletic equipment to carpets and clothing.
Last year, they gave 72 tons of reusable items and three tons of food. The sale raised $15,000 for 35 local health and human service organizations supported by the United Way.
Not only does the Trash to Treasure program give students the chance to donate to a good cause, it also "helps the environment by diverting reusable materials from the landfill," according to Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of central support services in the Office of Physical Plant.
"We reduced the amount of material going to the landfill by 72 tons."
The University also will avoid the $8,000 to $10,000 annual cost of transporting unwanted items to the landfill.
The program offers several volunteer opportunities for students and other interested individuals.
"We will need people to publicize the event, people to move the donations from residence halls to Beaver Stadium, people to work at the sale itself and people to clean up afterwards," according to Dave Edwards, volunteer chairperson of the Student United Way. "Helping out the United Way can build stronger bonds between the students of this University and the people of this community."
For information on the Trash to Treasure program, call Matyasovsky at (814) 863-4719 or Grigor at (814) 865-0446.
People interested in volunteering to help with the sale can call Connie Schroeder, communications director for the Centre County United Way, at (814) 238-8283 or e-mail connie@ccunitedway.org.
Jessa Stephens can be reached at jus21@psu.edu.