Clothes-Swapping in benson for a Great Cause

By Angeles Oviedo

On Monday, the Office of Sustainability and the Santa Clara Community Action Program held Santa Clara's second annual "Swap for Good," a donative drive to collect clothes, books, sports equipment and other gently used items for local community organizations like San Jose Family Shelters and Project Open Hand.

Last week, students, faculty and staff were all encouraged to donate gently used items to designated bins located all over campus. These donations were used to stock the "store" in the Benson Parlors where all members of the Santa Clara community were welcome to thrift shop for free.

The event was inspired by a nonprofit organization called Swap for Good that encourages people across the country to host clothing swaps and ask for donations to raise money for local domestic violence shelters. Santa Clara's donations will be distributed to San Jose Family Shelters, Home Safe shelter, Project Open Hand, as well as the Princess Project, which collects prom dresses for teenagers.
Senior Michelle Tang, who works for the Office of Sustainability, said the event was also an effort to improve the end-of-the-year move-out process. "We're really trying to encourage people to not just throw stuff away at the end of the year. In four weeks, when we see people moving out, it's going to be a kind of crazy and people will just be throwing things out. So this is just an effort to get people to start looking through their closets now," she explained.