After canceling the event the past two years because of COVID-19, Penn State has officially discontinued the annual Trash to Treasure Sale.
Started in 2002, the sale drew thousands to Beaver Stadium each year to shop for a wide range of goods donated by students during move-out in the spring. Proceeds from the sale — which averaged 60 tons of donated items and raised nearly $1 million over its 18 years — benefited the Centre County United Way.
After a multi-year pilot program, Penn State Housing instead has partnered with Goodwill to collect, sort and distribute gently used items donated by students for sale at locations across a 15-county region, according to a university news release. A portion of the proceeds this year will be directed to the Centre County United Way.
“We are grateful for this collaboration because it allows us to continue upcycling items that would likely end up in a landfill and significantly reduces the university’s cost of removing and hosting a public event,” John Papazoglou, associate vice president of Auxiliary and Business Services, said in a statement.
Signage will be posted in April directing students to locations in residence halls for donating gently used clothes and small household and decorative items. They also will be to drop off unexpired food items for distribution to local food banks and pantries. Large furniture items will not be accepted and students will be encouraged to donate them to other organizations.
“This is an important part of our overall sustainability program,” David Manos, associate director of Housing, said in a statement. “Things that can be reused or upcycled should be. Our students can do their part to protect the environment by donating items they no longer need, providing gently used and new items to the broader community. Partnering with Goodwill allows that to happen while also protecting the environment and helping those in need.”
Even without the Trash to Treasure Sale the last two years, Penn State has remained the single largest contributor to the annual campaign for the Centre County United Way, which is designated as the university’s charity of choice.
Penn State’s campaign has remained steady in contributing about 40% of the overall campaign total each year. In 2021, the university raised $645,107 as the Centre County United Way surpassed its campaign goal with a total of $1,647,386.
“They did a really great job last year even during COVID…,” Leanne Lenz, Centre County United Way executive director, said. “Percentage-wise we haven’t seen a big dip because of not having Trash to Treasure. The university, across all different units, has smaller fundraisers going on throughout the year which we really appreciate and those all add up to that campaign total, which has been fairly stable. We really appreciate everything that they have done historically with Trash to Treasure. Financially I don’t see it taking a huge hit, but we do have a really huge goal this year.”
The Centre County United Way has set a $2.2 million campaign goal for 2022.
As the pandemic upended traditional fundraising events, the United Way and its supporting partners, including Penn State, got creative to maintain fundraising with a mix of in-person and virtual events. The annual Taste of the Town fundraiser, meanwhile, “did really well” in 2021 and Penn State’s United Way golf tournament “was a huge success this year, more successful than it has ever been before,” Lenz said.
“We are hoping some new creative ideas come about across the university to help us reach the big $2.2 million goal we have for this year, but we’re not particularly concerned about [Trash to Treasure],” Lenz said. “…We’ve gotten creative and we’ve remained stable for that reason.”
