USD will host their annual Move Out Donation drive in May. The donation drive will be hosted by volunteers on May 1 through the 5. This is their third year holding this event at USD.
Faith Guzzo, the Director of the MUC & Programming, said that the mission of the donation drive is to keep the environment clean.
“The main mission of Move Out Donation Days) is to keep all items that students are kind of throwing away when they move out from going straight to the trash,” Guzzo said. “USD as a whole cares more about sustainability now than it has ever before. [USD] has been making a lot of efforts to increase sustainability initiatives on campus like never before.”
Starting out, Move Out Donation Days was student-driven by a group of graduate students and internships at the sustainability department. Now it is run by Guzzo and her associates.
There was a large increase of donations last year compared to the other years according to Guzzo. They are expected to continue the increase of donations this year.
“Last year we went from collecting about 4,000 pounds of donations to about 16,000 pounds. We had a very big growing year,” Guzzo said.
In the past years, there were around 90 volunteers who split shifts. There is a sign up sheet where volunteers can take three-hour shifts Monday throughFriday.
A lot of clubs and members around campus support Move Out Donation Days around USD.
“Anyone at the university [or community members] can participate. We have a lot of support from the environmental club and a lot of faculty and staff support… Sodexo has been very supportive as well as their staff,” Guzzo said. “It’s really a community effort.”
The donations given during the days are split and given to different partners around Vermillion.
One of the many partners of Move Out Donation Days is the Pathways Shelter for the Homeless. Jesse Bailey, the director of Pathways Shelter for the Homeless, said that they are grateful for the connection with Move Out Donation Days.
“We became familiar a few years ago and we finally made that connection with USD,” Bailey said. “We love the partnership. All the supplies we get goes to support [Pathways] cause and help many different families in our community in our area. We really appreciate [Move Out Donations Day].”
Some of the partners include the Vermillion Civic Council, Food Pantry, Charlie’s Cupboard and more.
Guzzo said they are going to continue Move Out Donation Days and hope USD establishes it as a tradition. If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer find a Move Out Donations Day poster, scan the QR code and sign up. Sign ups are available until the first day of the event.
