College move out day: a boon for townies in the market for desk chairs, small rugs and smaller fridges. It provides a fabulous opportunity for food donation, one that they’re taking advantage of at Vanderbilt.
The same goes for UConn. There, the Office of Environmental Policy is encouraging donations by calling upon the school’s hoops pedigree 
through the “Give and Go” program. The more I think about it, that’s a really clever name.
All the move out food collection I’ve seen only accepts non-perishable items. That’s probably for the best, but it means an abundance of one thing: ramen noodles.
Also, I noticed that UConn’s list of possible student-donated items includes vacuums. Ha. Dorm room cleaning–that’s a good one.
3 Comments
Jon,
Nice timing for the article. When I was living in the woods outside of Arcata, California we called this “Hippie Christmas.” I know you’re still not into the Facebook thing, but there is a Hippie Christmas event that I throw out there around this time of the year, and you’ve reminded me that I’m off of the ball.
As it turns out, I’m late on the Facebook update because here at CHOW we’ve been working closely with Plant Ops, the office of Sustainability, and the office of Residential Life to have a month of collections going. We’ve basically been seeing anything you can imagine in the warehouse for a while now, and it’s about to pick up. This year’s collections during the last two weeks of the academic year are shaping up to be exponentially better than last year’s.
But seriously folks, if you’ve never went dumpster diving before, now is the time. It’s not just about food waste during Hippie Christmas (or Hippie Hanuka, if you prefer)it’s about all manner of consumer waste, but most of all it’s a valuable learning experience. I hear that the most valuable Archaeological sites in the world, in terms of informing us about past civilizations, are ancient trash heaps. There is so much that you can learn about culture by rummaging through a culture’s trash.
Peace and Love,
Dan
(Many) years ago I worked for the admissions department during college. At the end of the year we got photos of the various dorms to address issues of fees and cleaning.
There were a couple of men-only dorms. I know they say single guys are not the best housekeepers. It seems two or more somehow multiply that stereotype exponentially. I can only imagine how much food was lost in the disaster. Good to hear there is a push to do something with the food besides leaving it for the janitors.
And a vacuum? I’m not sure most of these guys even had a sponge.
OK, people, you heard Dan. Get thee to a dumpster! I like the Hippie Christmas term and it sounds like you’ve taken that to the next level at CHOW.
Calimama, you’re a brave soul, having dared to venture into a male dorm. I hope you wore rubber boots.