In the spring of 2023, Sustainability Management partnered with various offices to host an end of the year donation drive. Boxes were placed in the Goldstein Student Center at the end of the semester on South Campus to collect food, clothing, bedding and household items. Donated food was taken to the South Campus food pantry, bedding was donated to Helping Hounds, and the remaining items were collected by a different organization each day.
The following community partners/organizations received donations.
- Boys and Girls Club of Syracuse
- Girls, Inc.
- Interfaith Works
- John 6:12 Ministries
- Peacemaking Center at 601 Tully
- RISE Resettlement Program
- Tay Project
- Westside Family Resource Center, Peace Inc.
The results were incredible with an overwhelming amount of donations coming in each day.
Service-learning students from PHP 309 (Health Disparities and Underserved Populations), WRT 205, and WRT 307 (Professional Writing) participated. Students created sample Instagram posts directing student organizations toward the opportunity to coordinate an event with off campus partners. Sample emails were created by WRT 205 service-learning students to help organize the future semester’s collection work. A team of WRT 307 service-learning students designed a sample website for the project to showcase the potential for community engagement both on and off campus.
The spring 2023 piloted donation drive, now known as ‘Cuse Collections, stems from a previous collection hosted at SU called Ten Tons of Love. Students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to donate clothing, household items and food to benefit local charities. ‘Cuse Collections has essentially expanded the work of Ten Tons of Love by effectively and sustainably building relationships between on and off campus partners.
‘Cuse Collections was held again in the spring of 2024. Three storage containers were placed on North and South Campus to collect donations. The event lasted a week with a different organization collecting donations each day. The response was once again incredible and helped limit the amount of waste generated at the end of the semester.
The plan is to continue hosting a smaller ‘Cuse Collections in December at the end of the semester and again in the spring as students are moving out. Food will continue to be donated to the South Campus food pantry and other donations will go to local charities and non-profits.
Accepted Donations:
- Gently used/new clothing
- Gently used/new shoes
- Non-perishable food items. If you have unopened refrigerated items you would like to donate, please bring them to 161 Farm Acre Road during regular business hours (Monday- Friday 8:30am – 4pm).
- Small kitchen items and appliances (microwaves, toasters, blenders, TVs, lamps, silverware, pots and pans, vacuums and more)
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (D.E.I.A) Symposium
Sustainability Management and the Shaw Center worked together to create a poster presentation for the D.E.I.A Symposium in the fall of 2023. The poster (below) highlights the work completed during the 2023 spring semester and the plans for ‘Cuse Collection going forward.
