The University’s Chuck It For Charity program collected over 21,000 pounds of donations this year for charities like Goodwill Industries, the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity.
Chuck It For Charity is a donation program run through the University’s Office of Sustainability, which seeks to collect clothes, food and gently-used items as students move out of their residences for the summer.
Compared to 2015, the program saw a 16 percent increase in total collection at the Student Activities Building, a 17 percent increase in total clothing donations and an 18 percent increase in McCormick Road Goodwill donations.
Sustainability Outreach & Engagement Manager Nina Morris said the program has changed the way it runs donations since 2014 and has developed a new model to accommodate residence halls without lobbies — such as dorms in the McCormick Road Residence Area.
“In years past we noticed that McCormick Road residences had lower donations than other areas,” Morris said in an email statement. “We surmised that because the donation points were in the basement lounges, the drop off locations were not as visible or as convenient.”
In 2015 and 2016, Chuck It For Charity partnered with Goodwill Industries to place collection boxes and a tent for donations on the quad, Morris said.
In total, donations for the McCormick Road Residence Area increased from 4,190 pounds in 2015 to 5,120 pounds in 2016.
However, in terms of total on-Grounds donations, there was a decrease from 23,556 pounds to 21,335 pounds.
Morris said the timing of the University’s e-cycle drive — run through Information Technology Services — is a factor which impacted the overall on-Grounds donation numbers.
“ITS usually runs a big e-cycle drive during Chuck It For Charity so that students can donate personal electronics,” Morris said. “This year, the e-cycle drive happened during Earth Week [in April] instead of Chuck It For Charity, which had a big impact in our overall collection numbers, even though all other donation options were up compared to years past.”
Chuck It For Charity is run with the help of student employees at the Office of Sustainability who help set up donation boxes in convenient places around Grounds.
“Every day, the U.Va. Recycling team collects the donations and then bring them to the Student Activities Building where each donation is weighed, sorted and put out on display,” Morris said. “The SAB is then opened to our partner charities to come and take whatever items they need, all for free.”
Student recycling team leader and rising fourth-year College student Maria Rincón said she is pleased with this year’s donation totals and values the partnerships between the program and local charities, such as Goodwill.
“I'm very happy with this year's results and it's clear that students are taking advantage of Chuck It For Charity's convenient drop off locations all over Grounds and near off-Grounds housing too,” Rincón said in an email statement. “We are optimistic that our partnerships and communications will only help to improve these results in the future.”
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