'Tis Better to GIVE

A two-day sale of items donated by UC Santa Barbara students will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 21 and 22, in the parking lot of UCSB’s Embarcadero Hall at 935 Embarcadero del Norte in Isla Vista.

The annual event is sponsored by GIVE, a campus project developed to encourage students to donate rather than discard their unwanted items. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.

When students move out of their apartments in Isla Vista, and from residence halls on campus, GIVE staff members and volunteers take donations of reusable clothing, books, furniture, household goods, electronics, bicycles, canned and packaged food and other miscellaneous items. Those items are then sold by GIVE, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting Isla Vista nonprofit organizations and community projects.

Marking its 24th year of accepting donations during student move-out in June, GIVE is one of the first community projects of its kind in the country. “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, director of student affairs grants and development and founder of the project.

“Students want to be zero waste at move-out and want to give back to their local community,” she continued. “In 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.”

According to Kathy Walsh, program director at the Isla Vista Children’s Center, funds earned at the GIVE sale are used for classroom supplies, field trips and special occasion projects to benefit the children. Last year some of the teachers recruited parents to volunteer at the sale. They raised funds to purchase new equipment and toys for their classrooms, as well as new outdoor equipment and science materials.

In 2013, the project experienced a 30 percent increase in income over the previous year. More than 135 volunteers donated 1,314 hours of their time, and an astonishing 30 tons of usable items were diverted from the county’s landfill. In addition, GIVE distributed 1,219 pounds of donated canned food to the A.S. Food Bank and 324 pounds of e-waste were recycled through the A.S. recycling program. Overall, the project raised more than $37,000, all of which was distributed among 12 local programs.

Beneficiaries include Isla Vista Elementary School’s Science Camp Scholarships; Isla Vista Park and Recreation District’s Adopt-a-Block and the Children’s Sequoia Camping Trip; Isla Vista Teen Center; Isla Vista Youth Projects; the Optimist Club at UCSB and the Breakfast Optimist Club of Goleta; Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara/Isla Vista; the Isla Vista Housing Co-Op; and the A.S. Food Bank.

Items not sold will be donated to Goodwill Industries, a charity that serves people in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Major sponsors of GIVE 2014 include A.S. Community Affairs Board; A.S. Finance Board; the Community Affairs Board Foundation; the Isla Vista/UCSB Liaison Office, the Isla Vista Tenants Union; the Isla Vista Community Relations Committee; UCSB Housing & Residential Services; and The Green Initiative Fund. Additional support is provided by A.S. Recycling Program; County of Santa Barbara Solid Waste; Marborg Industries; Goodwill Industries, Inc.; the UCSB departments of Community Housing, Student Life, Parking and Transportation Services, and Physical Facilities; and UCSB and community volunteers.

For more information about GIVE 2014, visit https://seal.sa.ucsb.edu/civic-community-engagement/give-benefit-sale or contact program coordinator Viviana Marsano at marsano-v@sa.ucsb.edu.