Spring means it’s time to clean your closet and donate the clothes you haven’t worn in a while.
Temple’s Office of Sustainability hosted its spring pop-up thrift event at the Essential Needs Hub yesterday.
Racks on bins on mountains of clothes, from jeans to jackets to shirts and skirts. And it’s all under 6 dollars.
“To me, sustainability really means thinking about the ways we can…live a good life today and continue to do that tomorrow,” Bryce Forys says. Forys is the Sustainability Coordinator at Temple University, and he tells Temple Update that the clothes they sell are donated by students.
“This event is in partnership with our sustainable move-out program, Give and Go Green,” he explains, “We identified…and saw that as a big need, to really address that these are usable items. That we can help extend their life.”
Volunteers sort out tons of donated clothes after move-out season to pick out the new options for the next sale. Forys elaborates: “During these thrift pop-ups in the fall and spring after move-out, we sell them back to students. It’s a great way to reuse a lot of things that students are leaving behind and no longer want.”
Sustainable culture is the name of the game here. But culture isn’t the only thing that’s benefiting from this event. Community is too.
“All the money we raise from this goes to the Cherry Pantry…a nice big circular process here,” Forys illustrates.
Forys explains that all the proceeds from the thrifting events go to the Cherry Pantry, the free grocery store resource for Temple students. “Over the years, at least since I’ve been here, I think we’ve surpassed…at least $20,000 at this point,” he proudly said.
But what happens with all the leftover clothes? “We have a partnership with [the] nonprofit Cradles to Crayons,” Forys reassures. “They come from each sale and pick up all the clothes that don’t sell.” This ensures that each sale has new clothes for students to look through.
The event is a big hit with students. “I like that the prices are low and there’s a lot of options, but then everything is below 5 dollars,” sophomore Jasmine Wilson reflects.
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