Donation boxes will be placed in various locations around the Cornell campus today for the ninth annual “Share the Warmth” campaign, an effort to collect winter clothing for the needy in Ithaca.
Running through Dec. 9, the campaign is seeking used clothing including coats, hats, gloves, earmuffs, thermal underwear, scarves, and boots.
“We hope to collect the used clothing for the people in Ithaca who can’t afford it for themselves,” said Sue Kim ’04, a participant in the effort.
Boxes will be located in all of the resident halls, the Community Commons, Willard Straight Hall, Morrison Hall, Big Red Barn, the Statler Hotel, and Collegetown Bagels. The drive will also take place at various locations in Ithaca, including the Pyramid Mall and Wegmans.
Alpha Phi Omega, Ecology House, Cornell Campus Life, the Ithaca Rotary Club, and Catholic Charities of Ithaca are co-sponsoring the campaign.
Clothing will be collected by Campus Life Housekeeping Services with the help of student volunteers, and then gathered for sorting on Dec. 10.
According to Ben Ross ’02, a member of both the Ecology House and Alpha Phi Omega, “The clothes will be sorted at the Ecology House, with the help of a lot of volunteers from the various organizations.”
In coordination with Catholic Charities and other area service organizations, the clothes will be distributed to the homeless and needy residents of Tompkins County. The clothing giveaway will be held at the Samaritan Center at Catholic Charities in Ithaca, from Dec. 12 through Dec. 15.
The project aims to inform students about the effort before Thanksgiving break, thereby giving students the time to organize their old clothes and donate them to the residents of Ithaca.
Last year’s campaign collected over 7,000 articles and according to a press release about the effort, “this year’s ‘Share the Warmth’ hopes to surpass this total by reaching out to the entire Ithaca community in a collective effort to help those in need.”
Archived article by Mackenzie Damon