2:48 p.m., June 1, 2007--UD students heading home at the end of the semester and local residents donated approximately 50 tons of furniture, clothes, bicycles, appliances, beds, mattresses and more to area social welfare agencies as part of this year's UDon't Need It campaign.

Items not needed by the three agencies will be on sale 8 a.m.-noon, Saturday, June 9, at the Curtis Paper Mill building, 225 Paper Mill Rd., Newark. The proceeds will go to the Ministry of Caring. The surplus sale is open to the public, but only cash will be accepted, and all sales are final.

The Curtis Paper Mill site on Paper Mill Rd. is open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m., through Sunday, June 3, to receive items students had to dispose of as they left Newark at the end of the semester.

Deborah A. Hoff, assistant University secretary and the University's UDon't Need It representative, said students donated about half the items taken in, or 25 tons. She said everything accepted at the collection site had to be in good condition. “We were overwhelmingly pleased with the response. It far exceeded our expectations.”

The items will be given to the Ministry of Caring, the Food Bank of Delaware and Planet Aid, three of this year's sponsors that also include Green Delaware Recycling, AmeriCorps/State Office of Volunteerism, the city of Newark, the Newark Town and Gown Committee/Environmental Cooperative and the University. The program was partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and local merchants donated incentive discount coupons.

UDon't Need It began last year as pilot project with the Ministry of Caring to help provide household items for those in need and to whittle away at the 150 tons of student-generated material sent to the Cherry Island landfill at the end of each school year.

Hoff said the collection site is filled with large furniture items, couches, desks, dressers, lawn equipment, lawn chairs and tables. “It's difficult to say how many families were helped by the campaign, but with the number of items we collected, we could have helped some 40 families,” Hoff said.

Article by Barbara Garrison
Photo by Sarah Simon