Beneath a 6,500 square-foot tent on campus, incoming first-years and
returning students snapped up bargain-priced items ranging from the
essential to the eclectic. In addition to 200 shower caddies, 120
couches, 100 sets of bed risers and more than 100 television sets,
shoppers grabbed life-sized cutouts of pop queens Britney Spears and
Kelly Clarkson, a Mickey Mouse costume and a pair of blue sparkled
jumpsuits, and posters and paraphernalia advertising some students'
beverage of choice.
Over and over, I heard wow, I can't believe someone would get rid of
this,' says UNH junior Alex Freid, who is steering Trash 2 Treasure,
or T2T, with sophomore Emily Spognardi. They sold nearly all their
stock, donating leftover items to Operation Blessing, a Portsmouth
non-profit that provides household goods, clothing, and furniture to
people in crisis in the Seacoast area.
The organizers believe theirs is the first such initiative that is
entirely student-led and self-sustaining. Expenses including trucks,
summer storage, and tent rental -- for the inaugural event were offset
by fund-raising and a grant from the UNH Parents Foundation. Money
raised from the recent yard sale will offset next year's expenses.
Buoyed by their initial success, the organizers are already planning
for T2T's second year. Recruiting and organizing more volunteers than
the 30 or so who moved dressers and found mates for shoes this year is a
priority, as are streamlining their move-out collection and better
preparing for inclement weather. We learned a lot, and now we have the
whole year ahead of us to plan, says Freid. In the future, he says,
the organizers hope to help other universities replicate a similar
program.
So many people told us, This is such a great idea. Thank you for doing it,' Freid says.
More information is available www.unh.edu/trash2treasure; www.facebook.com/unhtrash2treasure; or www.twitter.com/unht2t. Read about the project in UNH Magazine: http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/sp11/trash2treasure.html.
Current Issue - May 2024