Edhat Staff
Source: Andrea Estrada, UC Santa Barbara
A two-day sale of items donated by UC Santa Barbara students will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, in the parking lot of Embarcadero Hall, 935 Embarcadero del Norte in Isla Vista. Admission is free and the public is invited.
The benefit sale is sponsored by GIVE!, a campus project developed to encourage students to donate and recycle unwanted items rather than discard them. It is one of the first community projects of its kind in the country.
Now in its 28th year, GIVE! accepts unwanted and reusable clothing, books, furniture, household furnishings, kitchenware, electronics, bicycles, canned and packaged foods and miscellaneous items during Isla Vista and UCSB’s annual move-out period in June. Each year, over 180 volunteers from UCSB and the local community receive, organize and sort all donations in preparation for the sale. Proceeds from the sale of the items benefit Isla Vista nonprofit organizations and community projects.
Items not sold will be donated to Goodwill Industries of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
“UCSB students are aware of the environmental implications of just throwing away their stuff when they move out of their apartments and campus residence halls,” said Catherine Boyer, executive director of student affairs grants and development and founder of the project. “Students want to be ‘green’ at zero waste move-out and want to give back to their local community. Even in the cleaning and moving out as soon as final exams are over, students realize that what they no longer need or want can be used by someone else.”
Last year, over 135 volunteers donated 1,550 hours to receive and process more than 27 tons of donated goods that were saved from landfill. GIVE! donated 1,549 pounds of packaged food to the Associated Students Food Bank, sold or recycled nearly 4,000 pounds of electronics and distributed over $27,000 to 12 local programs.
In addition to the A.S. Food Bank, beneficiaries in 2017 included Isla Vista Elementary School’s Science Camp Scholarship Fund; the Isla Vista Initiatives Fund; the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District’s Adopt-a-Block program and the Children’s Camping Trip; the Isla Vista Youth Projects; the Optimist Club @ UCSB and Goleta; Santa Barbara Soccer; the Saint George Family Youth Center in Isla Vista; the Isla Vista Teen Student Athlete Fund; and St. Michael’s and All Angels Church.
Among the major sponsors of this year’s GIVE! sale are the A.S. Coastal Fund; A.S. Community Affairs Board; the Community Volunteer Foundation; A.S. Finance and Business Committee; the Isla Vista Community Relations Committee; the Isla Vista Tenants Union; UCSB Housing, Dining, and Auxiliary Enterprises; the Office of Student Life; the Residence Halls Association; the UCSB Community Housing Office; and the Zero Waste Committee.
Additional support is provided by the County of Santa Barbara Solid Waste; the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District; Goodwill Industries; MarBorg Industries; the UCSB Division of Student Affairs; UCSB Transportation and Parking Services; UCSB Physical Facilities; Zero Waste #MyLastTrash; and community volunteers.
More information about the event can be found at www.sa.ucsb.edu/give-iv. Questions may be directed to Viviana Marsano at viviana.marsano@sa.ucsb.edu.
