The semester has almost reached its conclusion, prompting a number of students on and off campus to prepare moving out. Over the course of an academic year, there are possessions students may not want to keep. Donating them to the When You Move Out program is a viable option instead of throwing those items out.
According to their website, the WYMO program is a campus-wide reuse and waste-reduction initiative run by the Office of Sustainability. It aims to collect unwanted or unneeded objects students have that may be reused by others in the community. The items people may donate range from books and clothing to non perishable food and electronics.
Nick Hennessy, sustainability manager for the Office of Sustainability, has noted that donations tend to pick up once students get into the mode of doing it more frequently. Knowledge on what can be donated and how easy it is to donate is essential in getting this process started. Donations also tumble in more frequently once finals week approaches, since students will be in the mindset of moving out.
Temporary stations are set up in the Kreischer reStore room for the beginning stages of donations. Once more donations are received, they then expand into more spaces inside Kreischer. Donation boxes eventually need to be monitored instead of checked periodically due to larger intake of donations as well.
Hennessy encourages students to donate, as it’s a great deal for everyone involved. “It’s a triple, quadruple win. People who donate are doing something good. But it’s easy to do,” he says. “And it’s actually helping you (the students) because you have less stuff that you have to pack. … So, you can do something good for yourself and for somebody else at the same time.”
All donations try to get reused by those who run WYMO, enforcing their zero-waste guideline. The donations go to a number of places. Food donated to WYMO first goes to local food pantries and is never sold. Local organizations in need are also considered for some donations as well, such as the Cocoon Shelter. All other donations are considered for the WYMO reStore event where all proceeds go to Campus Sustainability, which go towards events to promote education for sustainability, such as tree planting.
Adam Smith, WYMO program volunteer, wants to stress the importance of off-campus students having the option to donate their possessions as well. Any sort of eligible items are welcome from them.
Donations began to be accepted around late April and will be taken until the Monday after commencement. Any donations can be put in a WYMO box located in different spots around campus. There are boxes in every residence hall lobby, including the off-campus apartments, the entry lobby by the stairs in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, in every Outtakes store and every Greek townhouse.
If students wish to help out with the effort but do not have anything they want to donate, they may also volunteer their time to the WYMO program. Volunteers are needed to pick up donations from their allocated areas and also to go through donations and make sure they are in good shape for reusability.
On volunteering time, Smith stated, “If you have the opportunity to volunteer with WYMO, it’s an eye-opening experience because you really start see how much would get thrown out and probably go to the landfills if we didn’t have this program.”
For students wanting to volunteer, visit WYMO’s website or email [email protected] for more information about scheduling. Volunteers will be needed after graduation if students are willing to give their time.
