|
‘Don’t Throw It Away’ dumpster dives for charity |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
by NIKKI ROBERTI
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
It has been said, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
If so, just call Appalachian & the Community Together (ACT) “Don’t Throw it Away” committee “treasure hunters.”
From May 1 to May 10, in preparation for the annual Big Sale in the fall, “Don’t Throw it Away” will collect discarded items such as furniture and other objects useful for residence halls and apartments.
Students will be able to set aside items in a taped-off area in their dorms on April 28.
Rebecca M. Peterson, a sophomore graphic design major, is on the committee.
She said “Don’t Throw it Away” is looking for volunteers to go around
to residence halls and collect the set aside items, or dumpster dive in
search of buried treasure.
“A lot of people think [dumpster diving] is fun,” she said. “I don’t personally, but a lot of guys seem to.”
Julia C.
Fondren, senior psychology major and third-year volunteer, said
volunteers do not have to get into a dumpster if they do not want to.
Students who
prefer not to get up close and personal with the dumpsters can be like
Peterson, who goes around the dorms collecting items instead.
But after three years of being involved in the project, Fondren said she has been in the dumpster herself.
“I once pulled out a piece of art that is now hanging on the wall of my apartment,” she said.
Among the treasures Fondren has rescued from past campus dumpsters include a WalMart shopping cart and an inflatable Tiki pole.
“You’d have to come to the Big Sale to see it to believe it,” Fondren said.
The Big Sale is an on campus garage sale in the fall providing students with the opportunity to receive discounted goods.
This year it will be held August 23.
“I think all the
different layers of [Don’t Throw it Away and the Big Sale] are
helpful,” Fondren said. “It keeps trash out of landfills, helps
non-profit organizations, and students get cheap goods in the fall.”
The four
non-profit organizations benefiting from the Big Sale this year are
WECAN, Mountain Alliance, Legal Aid, and Mountain Pathways School.
Volunteers not
only get the satisfaction of helping out charity, they also get free
food the night they help collect items along with a “glimpse of what
the sale will be this year,” Peterson said.
Peterson has benefited from past Big Sales.
Last year she bought two “really nice carpets” for $15.
“There was just so much stuff and reasonably priced,” she said.
Adam L. Hamrick, freshman biology major, is personally familiar with the Big Sale.
He bought a futon for under $15, which he turned into a couch for his residence hall.
He recommends others to check out the sale this fall.
To make the Big Sale as successful as it has been in the past, “Don’t Throw it Away” needs volunteers.
ACT will be at a contact table in Plemmons Student Union today and April 30.
Fondren encourages students to visit the ACT office and act.appstate.edu.
 |
Lifestyles 
Show/Hide comments
