Give it Up!
Give It Up! is a program that enables students to donate their unwanted items at move-out time to local charities and non-profits, benefiting the local community and reducing waste at the same time.
The program, led by the Center for Learning in Action, takes place from the beginning of Reading Period in mid-May through Commencement in early June. Large pods are placed in front of student dorms so students moving out can donate items instead of throwing them out. The success of this program also greatly depends on student employees, as they sort, transport, and deliver donated clothing, books, food, and other items that would otherwise head to landfills.
Give it Up! is led by the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA) and supported by the Zilkha Center for the Environment, Facilities which pays for the storage pods, Campus Safety Services (CSS) which provides logistical support, the Office for Information Technology (OIT), and Alumni Reunions which assigns Reunion Rangers to assist with the intense move-out period on Commencement Day. The program creates multiple simultaneous wins for the college, students, community, and environment.
Give it Up! helps reduce the volume of items left in the dorms and the amount of waste generated during the move-out process by giving students a convenient way to donate their belongings, all while financially benefiting local nonprofits. Because many of the donated items are sold in the clothing and tag sales at the First Congregational Church in the fall, Give it Up! also benefits incoming Williams students during the move-in process in the fall, offering students and community members access to useful items at very affordable prices.
TIP: Donate as early as possible to minimize stress while moving out!
- Find a pod near you (see below)
- Look for the logo, which will be on a white Connors Bros storage pod, which indicates it is a GIU! pod that can accept donations.
- Leave your donation items in the pod, or find a Give it Up! volunteer if you need assistance!
For the end of the 2024-25 academic school year, students will be able to donate to the pods located through the following dates in the following areas:
Friday, May 16th – Friday, May 30th
- Freshman Quad
- Mission Park
Friday, May 16th – Monday, June 9th
- Dodd
- Greylock Quad
- Berkshire/Currier Quad
- Morgan/Jesup
- Horn Hall
- Spencer/Brooks
- Perry
- Tyler
- Wood
- Agard
- Woodbridge
- Garfield
Friday, May 30th – Monday, June 9th
- Doughty
- Poker Flats
- Books
- School supplies
- Knick-knacks
- Games
- Unopened food and drink
- Household items, furniture, microwaves and fridges
- Clothes, shoes, footwear
- Printers, TVs, laptops, computer accessories (in any condition)
- Sports equipment
- Musical instruments
- Bedding, towels
- Body care products
- Detergent, dryer sheets, cleaning supplies
- Flower/plant pots or containers
- Foam mattress toppers
- Course packets (recycle these!)
- Bed pillows in bad condition
- Broken items and trash
- Open or perishable food (give to your friends!)
- Mattresses
Our community partners are the First Congregational Church (FCC) and ABC
Clothing Sale (who include these collected goods with all their other donations in their annual sales to benefit local charities), as well as the Williamstown Food Pantry. The donated books are collected at St. John's Episcopal Church, which graciously offers the use of their space for this purpose over a period of several weeks. From there, they are donated to Chapter Two Books (a local non-profit used bookstore whose proceeds benefit the town's Milne Public Library), bought back by the Williams Bookstore, and shipped to Better World Books for resale or recycling. Proceeds from the Williams Bookstore buyback and Better World Books sales commissions benefit Nyanam Widows Rising in Kenya, an NGO founded by recent Williams alumni to prepare widows to lead positive social changes in their communities through leadership development, economic empowerment, and community engagement.
This campaign creates multiple "wins" for the college, students, community and environment by reducing the volume of items left in the dorms and the amount of waste generated during the move-out process, while giving students a convenient way to donate their belongings, all while financially benefiting small local nonprofits. The last "win" of this reuse/recycle program benefits incoming Williams students in the early fall, when the clothing and tag sales at the FCC offer students (and community members) access to needed items at very affordable prices.
Though a precise assessment of their value is available, it is clear that donations from the GIU collection in 2023 contributed substantially to the late summer and early fall FCC Tag Sale's and ongoing ABC Clothing Sale's results, totaling over $77,000 combined. In 2023, the ABC Clothing Sale donated over $54,000 in sales proceeds to benefit a range of local charitable and nonprofit organizations, including Louison House, Williamstown Food Pantry, Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative, Barrington Stage Company's Playwright Mentoring Project, Elizabeth Freeman Center, Kids 4 Harmony, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Berkshire Academy for Advanced Musical Studies, ROOTS Teen Center, and more.
The FCC again offered a fan sale over the summer to allow students living on-campus an opportunity to help offset the heat in their dorm rooms, which are not air-conditioned. Building on the success of last year's adjustment, the FCC
again offered multiple sales in order to better accommodate the staggered move-in dates for various groups of students, including early sales for first-generation, international students and first-year students, then for returning students, then for the general community. Remaining items were then passed along for free to those in need.
The 2023 FCC tag sales raised over $27,000, which their Outreach Team used to support those in the community who benefit from their financial support. Items were also donated to immigrant families and students in need, as well as many school supplies to Brayton Elementary School in North Adams, nonperishable food to the Williamstown Food Pantry, and personal care products to the Berkshire Immigrant Center, Louison House, and South Community Food Pantry in Pittsfield. Remaining items were donated to Goodwill.
GIU collected and shipped 87 boxes of donated books to Better World Books during the Spring 2024 collection. Chapter Two Books was again invited to review the book collection at St. John's before they were packed, and was delighted to be able to take another ~35 boxes worth of books to be sold in their store, nearing GIU's record of 126 total boxes of books. Books sold or recycled by Better World Books between July 2023 and October 2024 have so far raised over $1,255 for Nyanam International, and have collected and saved the following totals through recycled/post-consumer fiber production:
- Over 2,900 books (~4,000 lbs)
- 46 trees
- Over 6,200 lbs of methane & greenhouse gas
- Over 32,000 gallons of water
- 5 cubic yards of landfill space
- Over 9,600 kWh of electricity