Executive director of Better Housing for Tompkins County , John Spence , gratefully accepts a check for $5,500

 

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

$27,000 in donations from Cornell Campus Life’s Dump & Run activity was presented to four local charitable organizations at a reception on Wednesday, October 28. The University’s seventh annual Dump and Run sale raised $37,442. Of the total raised, $12,000 went to Cops, Kids, and Toys, a program that provides holiday gifts for children from low-income families; $7,000 was donated to Tompkins Learning Partners, which provides free tutoring services to local residents who need help reading, writing, or speaking English; John Spence (pictured at left) accepted $5,500 for Better Housing for Tompkins County, Inc., anorganization that works to improve housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents in Tompkins County; and $2,500 was accepted by the Drop-In Children’s Center, an agency that provides affordable childcare for families
with young children.

Percentages of the proceeds donated to each charitable organization were determined by the number of volunteer hours each agency contributed to the Dump and Run collection, sorting, and sale. Of the remaining funds raised, $500 was allocated to the national Dump and Run, Inc. organization, and the rest will be invested back into Cornell’s Dump
and Run program to help support staffing and supplies.

Dump and Run, organized and run by Cornell students with substantial support from the university’s department of Campus Life, is a waste recovery and recycling program that collects items students might otherwise throw away when leaving campus in May. All collected items are sorted and organized over the summer, then resold at a large sale when students return each August. Property Manager, Andrew Piliero (right) demonstrates the efforts that the staff and board members of participating organizations contribute to the event.

Since its inception in 2003, Cornell's Dump and Run has removed an estimated 200+ tons from the waste stream. From 2003-2008, the project contributed more than $120,000 to Tompkins County charities, and donated more than 20 tons worth of reusable goods to local human service agencies. In addition to the items that were resold, carloads of nonperishable food were given to the Friendship Network in Ithaca to be distributed to
local pantries and charities. Campus Life provides marketing support, storage space, payment for truck rentals, boxes, and the efforts of its own volunteer staff members.