For college students across the state, it’s now time to begin the next chapter, and for many, that starts with cleaning out their dorm.
But for Chris Harasta, this time of the year has a much different purpose. He and a group of volunteers known as the “Move Out Project” work to gather unwanted items students often throw out or leave behind at the end of the year.
"We're getting a massive amount of stuff. Yesterday, we brought in 2,000 from campus. Today, we're looking, probably already having collected 2,000 and we just started," said Harasta, logistics coordinator of the Binghamton University Move Out Project.
What You Need To Know
- For graduating students, items like couches or TVs typically end up in the dumpster at the end of the semester
- A former student sparked the idea to raise awareness about the need locally, encouraging students to donate their used items, rather than throwing them out
- Binghamton’s Move Out Project expects to gather 20,000 pounds of donations
For graduating students, items like couches typically end up in the dumpster at the end of the semester. The same goes for everything from phones to microwaves to food. At the end of the donation period, nonprofits gather to sort and accept the items, which are then made available to those in need.
"The idea is that students have a lot of things that they can't take with them at the end of the semester, and oftentimes, that stuff ends up in the landfill. So this project is really aimed at trying to divert that waste away from the landfill and the dumpsters, and get them back into the community," said Harasta.
For students leaving Binghamton, it’s a great way to give back to a community they called home for the past four years.
"You should see the look on their faces that they're doing something good, that an item is not left behind or in a junkyard somewhere," said Chad Watkins, project volunteer.
Across the state, items like these are in high demand, as rising prices are making even the most simple purchases more difficult for families. While this program is still fairly new, it’s already been a huge help.
"It really hits home when we talk to the people at the organizations that we donate to. We have like 40 different organizations locally that we send these items to, and there's always stories about how these things have helped people and just stories about how a single donation has made a difference. And so when we talk about that times, thousands of items, it's just, it's a good feeling to know that we're actually doing something meaningful," said Harasta.
Binghamton’s Move Out Project expects to gather 20,000 pounds of donations.
