Residence Hall Rummage Sale Nets $2,200 for Food Shelf

May 22, 2017

The Center for Student Involvement, Housing and Residence Life, and College Auxiliary Services raised $2,200 for the Interfaith Food Shelf and delivered six boxes — 200 pounds — of nonperishable food during their annual Residence Hall Rummage Sale May 16.

The sale, in its sixth year, featured mounds of clothing, appliances, school supplies and other household items left behind by students at the end of the semester. Instead of tossing it all into Dumpsters, staff from the center and Residence Life decided to host the sale to benefit the food shelf while at the same time keeping tons of usable items from the landfill.

This year’s sale brings the total donated to the food shelf to more than $8,200, said Cori Jackson, director of the Center for Student Involvement.

“The popularity of the rummage sale with faculty and staff as well as with the public has shown no sign of wavering. Employees were granted first access at 11 a.m. and the line started forming an hour before that,” Jackson said. “I think that speaks to the success of the event, to the good deals people knew they’d find, and when the majority of the sales were from fill-a-bag-for-a-buck deals, it speaks to how much was actually kept from the landfill. We look forward to topping the $10,000 mark next year.”