West Virginia University, a national partner of the OneShirt National Collegiate Clothing Drive, collected the second-highest amount of clothing out of 90 colleges and universities that participated.
WVU collected nearly 4,500 pounds of donated clothing—second only to Concordia University with 6,000 pounds—that will be sold or recycled by Goodwill Industries to support its outreach. WVU collected clothing over one day and Concordia collected over one week.
In last year’s pilot program, WVU collected 1,500 pounds of clothing in one week.
February’s clothing drive began as a partnership between SustainU Clothing—a sustainable clothing company that started in WVU’s Business Incubator WVU’s Office of Sustainability. In its first nationwide event, the campaign saw schools in 35 states collect more than 31,000 pounds of clothing from more than 2,000 homes with the help of 1,350 volunteers.
“This was a very successful event, not just for WVU but also for the members of the community in Morgantown,” said Juan Arcila, a WVU student who assisted in coordinating the local event. “We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of support and help that people gave us. I am still receiving e-mails about clothing donations.
“The University created a strong relationship with the community, and the fact that the event was well organized made it easier for the volunteers and the community to make the best out of the event and to let everybody know that we are willing to help out in any way we can.”
As part of the campaign, students notified area homes that they would be back to pick up any clothing residents wished to donate in a few days. A campus drop off area was also available.
The campaign is designed to recycle resources and direct the proceeds to charitable organizations like Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army.
The WVU campus community is always able to donate clothing throughout the year at a collection station outside the Student Recreation Center.
Find out more about WVU’s sustainability efforts at http://wecan.wvu.edu/
-WVU-
dm/03/24/11
CONTACT: Clement Solomon, Office of Sustainability
304-293-7916, clement.solomon@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.