WSU 'Move Out, Pitch In' students donate 48 tons to local charities

Washington State University students left local charities almost 43 tons of food and housewares when they left town for the summer.

Judi Dunn-Gray, Whitman County’s recycling coordinator, reported Monday the “Move Out, Pitch In” campaign collected 40.12 tons of furniture, clothing and assorted sundries from students in off-campus housing.

“Anything that doesn’t fit in the car usually gets left behind,” said Dunn-Gray.

Local charities sponsored areas around campus and set up dumpster-style collection bins. Goods dropped off were taken back to local thrift stores for fund raising sales.

In addition to the furniture, clothing and other housewares, students left behind 2.84 tons of food for the Community Action Center’s food bank.

“That’s a lot of Top Ramen and popcorn,” said Dunn-Gray.

She noted much of the food donations were given to Lybian students who had their aid revoked when the country’s revolution began last spring.

Donations from campus residences have not yet been tallied.

Dunn-Gray said the participating charities all chipped in this year to help pay for the dumpsters.

Previously, collection efforts were partially funded through a grant from the state Department of Ecology. but that grant expired this year.

“It was a great collaboration of groups that did this this year,” Dunn-Gray said.

St. James Thrift Store collected 13.79 tons of housewares that will be sold in its campus store to benefit its parish and anti-poverty efforts. Dunn-Gray said St. James raised $14,000 from the 2010 drive.

Palouse Industries collected 5.75 tons that will be sold to raise funds for its efforts to help train and employ the developmentally disabled.

Harvest House, which treats people for chemical dependency, collected 2.66 tons of stuff.

Adventist Community Services of Deary collected 17.91 tons of student leavings it will sell to fund its community efforts.

Dunn-Gray advised any other community organization interested could contact her office in Colfax about sponsoring a residence hall or neighborhood dumpster for next year’s “Move Out, Pitch In” campaign.