If one student’s trash is someone else’s treasure, Isla Vista will be hopping with bargain hunters during the annual two-day GIVE Project sale this weekend.
UCSB students moving out of their apartments and dorms are encouraged to donate all discarded items to the Isla Vista year-end sale held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Embarcadero Hall, 935 Embarcadero del Norte. All proceeds from the sale are distributed to organizations and projects that benefit Isla Vista and local area projects, ones selected by the community volunteers who spend hours sorting and organizing the donations. Last year’s recipients included the Isla Vista Teen Center, the Isla Vista Youth Projects, St. Brigid’s Fellowship, the Isla Vista Safety Town camp, Isla Vista Recreation & Park District, Santa Barbara/IV Neighborhood Medical Clinic, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Optimists Club @ UCSB, and the University Religious Conference. But the donations don’t stop in Isla Vista: the “leftovers” at the end of the sale will be donated to the Society of Vincent de Paul, a charity serving people in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
After spring finals are over and students begin moving out, hundreds of UCSB students donate their usable belongings, things they no longer need or want, to the GIVE Project. This is the 17th year for GIVE, a project organized to provide readily accessible locations for these students to make donations. During the 10-day period of student “move-out” in Isla Vista and at residence halls on the UCSB campus, the GIVE Project staff and volunteers receive hundreds of donations of clothing, books, furniture, food, kitchenware, household goods, electronics, bikes and miscellaneous items.
UCSB students’ awareness about the social and environmental impacts of “just throwing away their stuff” when they move out has changed. Students want to live more “earth friendly” and to contribute to the improvement of their local community. They recognize that, even in the haste of moving out after final exams are over, what they no longer want or need can be used by someone else. GIVE is a UCSB project developed to encourage donating instead of discarding.
Sponsors of the GIVE Project include the UCSB’s Isla Vista liaison, A.S. Coastal Fund, A.S. Community Affairs Board, A.S. Isla Vista Community Relations Committee, A.S. Isla Vista Tenants’ Union, A.S. Recycling Program, Santa Barbara County Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division, Isla Vista Recreation & Park District Adopt-a-Block, Isla Vista School After School Grant, MarBorg Industries, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, UCSB Community Housing Office, UCSB Housing & Residential Services Energy and Environmental Office, UCSB Parking Services, UCSB Physical Facilities, and UCSB and community volunteers.
Catherine Boyer is UCSB’s Isla Vista liaison.