SOS: Share Our Stuff

Share Our Stuff is Washington University’s annual event to protect the environment and support those in need in our community by sharing our unwanted goods. Each year during on- and off-campus move-out, our campus community is responsible for the disposal of a tremendous amount of usable goods. These goods can be reused by people in need within our campus community and throughout our surrounding neighborhoods. Share Our Stuff is the university-wide collaborative designed to make it easy for all students to recycle their unwanted items at move out in a manner that benefits the environment and our community.

The members of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity have provided this service to our campus community for several years. In 2008, a university-wide collaborative was formed to support the TKE initiative and to more comprehensively collect the amount of materials disposed of by our community.  In 2009, Sharing With A Purpose (SWAP), a non-profit sponsored through Student Entrepreneurial Program, joined the effort. Together, we are working to continually improve the Share Our Stuff program to ensure that usable goods are redistributed to those in our community most in need, rather than needlessly ending up in landfills.

When &Where to Donate

	If you live on campus…	If you live off campus…
Collection Dates:	April 30 – May 19	April 30 – Early August
Collection Sites:	South Forty Residential Colleges Beaumont – Ground floor lobby Danforth – 1st floor next to center staircase Dardick – 1st floor lobby Dauten - basement Eliot – 1st floor TV lounge Eliot B - 1st floor lounge ("Wow Room") Gregg – Entry lobby next to fire escape Hitzeman - 1st floor lobby Hurd - Basement Lee – Ground floor lobby Lien – Room next to 1st floor kitchen Liggett/Koenig – 1st floor lounge Mudd – Ground floor conference room Myers - Basement Nemerov – 1st floor lobby Park – Ground floor multipurpose room Rubelmann – Ground floor lobby Rutledge – Suite 12, 1st floor Shanedling – Basement Shepley – 1st floor TV lounge South 40 House - Entry area at bottom of staircase Umrath House - Entry lobby (south wall) Wheeler – 1st floor TV lounge North Side Residential Houses House 6 – South entry lounge Lopata – Basement near grand staircase Millbrook 1 – Basement TV lounge Millbrook 4 – Entry way near RCD office Village – Dining room E and main hallway Village East – Basement TV lounge	Quadrangle Housing (OPEN HOURS: Monday-Saturday 8 am to 5 pm) 725 Kingsland – POD 6188 McPherson – POD 6654 Washington – POD Residential Life Collection sites located in the lower level of all Residential Life-managed off-campus properties.

Lightening Your Load

Attention Seniors! Drop off your donations Saturday, May 19, 2012, during the S.O.S. Lightening Your Load event.
When: 9:30am - 2:30pm
Where: Academy Building (corner of University Dr. and Melville Ave.)

If you live in the Rosedale Heights or Ames Place neighborhoods call for curbside pick up: 314-503-5915

More information (PDF - 770KB)

What to Donate

Each Share Our Stuff collection site will have bins for the following items. Look for these signs at your location:

• Appliances and Electronics
• Books
• Clean Clothing & Linens
• Unopened, Non-Perishable Food
• Unused Hygiene Products and Office Supplies
• Furniture and Furnishings

Who Will Benefit

MERS/Goodwill is a St. Louis based not-for-profit association that serves over 11,000 families annually. The agency provides job-training and employment services to individuals who have barriers to employment through disability or economic disadvantage. In 2009, the St. Louis-based non-profit helped 3,000 people find meaningful employment. MERS/Goodwill is committed to reuse and recycling of all useable materials, primarily through resale at Goodwill retail stores. Revenue from Goodwill stores provides funding for MERS/Goodwill job training and employment services.

Established in 1981 to tackle the growing problem of hunger, Operation Food Search is a St. Louis area food bank that distributes food free of charge to feed the poor and hungry. Each month, Operation Food Search distributes more than 2 million pounds of food and necessities to 265 food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters in 31 counties of Missouri and Illinois. Operation Food Search feeds approximately 120,000 people every single month - nearly half of these recipients are children.

The Ronald McDonald House provides a "home-away-from-home" for families of seriously-ill children traveling to St. Louis for medical treatment. The facility has grown from an eight-bedroom facility in 1981, to now include two houses, eight extended-stay apartments, and three Ronald McDonald Family Rooms – one at St. John's Mercy Children's Hospital, one at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and one at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. The Ronald McDonald House provides comfort, care and lodging for up to 39 families every day of the year and Ronald McDonald Family Rooms serve more than 4,000 families per year.

The Washington University Campus Y is a student-centered organization that provides community service opportunities in 25 student-led programs. Their mission is to develop ethical leaders of exemplary character by applying the principles of the YMCA of Greater St. Louis in partnership with Washington University. In the 2008-2009 academic year, 847 students participated in 25 student-led community service programs providing 49,847 hours of service to 10,780 people locally, nationally, and internationally in over 30 agencies. The estimated economic impact of these service programs in this year alone was $1,009,401. The Campus Y has been engaging Washington University students in meaningful service for almost 100 years.

Brought to You By

• Student Entrepreneurial Program
• Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity
• Office of Residential Life
• Community Service Office
• Office of Government & Community Relations
• Department of Facilities Planning & Management
• Quadrangle Housing
• Office of Sustainability

QUESTIONS? FEEDBACK? CONTACT:

For more information, call the Office of Sustainability at 314-935-6214 or sustainability@wustl.edu.