Students' discarded items to provide nearly 500 meals for elderly

Rachel Johnson, Director of Volunteer Services/RSVP with Northwest Community Action, who coordinated “Don't Dump it - Donate it” with CSC Housing staff, said funds from the sale of students’ donated items May 1-4 when they were moving out of the residence halls, will provide nearly 500 meals.

“The mission of Northwest Community Action is to alleviate the conditions of poverty, so the mission of Feed a Hungry Senior, a program administered through the 60+ Club at the Senior Center, is near and dear to RSVP. It takes a while to wrap your mind around the fact we have hungry senior citizens in Chadron. No single thing causes it. It’s a multitude of issues,” Johnson said, “but it is very real.”

Johnson said RSVP volunteers staffed trailers strategically placed near dumpsters at High Rise, Kent, and Andrews Halls, and collection boxes at Work Hall to encourage students to donate household items rather than discard them. She estimates RSVP volunteers served more than 200 hours on campus, moving items to storage, sorting, cleaning bedding and working at the May 18 sale.

“Austen Stephens with CSC Housing was extremely supportive in hosting us and helping us plan where to locate the collection sites while students were moving out,” Johnson said.

Johnson said several CSC students enrolled in Learning to Serve (FYI 169AB) taught by Dr. Matt Evertson assisted with the project. Madisen Grenstiner of Wasta, South Dakota, Harley Rhoades of Douglas, Wyoming, and Alexis McGann of Broken Bow, Nebraska, met with the Senior Center’s director to better understand the Feed a Hungry Senior program and volunteered in the Center’s rummage room. They also made posters for campus showing the number of meals provided by various donated items and promoted the collection sites at Campus Activity Board meeting.

Items donated by students included rugs, carpets, chairs, bookcases, dormitory size refrigerators and microwaves, small appliances, vacuums, trash cans, lamps and bedding. Johnson described the amount of pillows donated this year as a mountain.

“Last year, we put the drive together in two weeks and were still understanding the logistics. For example, we learned we just needed small trailers. This year local business owners, Paris Fisher and Craig Price, donated U-Haul trailers and storage units for the items until our sale. RSVP volunteer Dan Konrath cleaned and repaired all the appliances,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the idea for recycling household items was generated from two sources: Konrath who observed the numerous usable items thrown away when tenants moved out of his rental units in Chadron and Johnson noticed a similar effort when she picked up her daughter from a university.

Taylor Osmotherly, assistant housing director, said the project is a win-win proposition that reduces the amount of waste from the residence halls while also helping feed senior citizens in the community.