Most charities raise funds with benefit concerts, dinners, or walks.
The Centre County United Way raises funds by selling the “trash” left in Penn State dorm rooms.
The 14th annual Trash to Treasure sale was held on Saturday, transforming the concourse inside Beaver Stadium into a makeshift department store. It’s like a pop-up shop on steroids, made up entirely of used goods available at eye-poppingly low prices.
The sale, which is the charitable organization’s largest fundraiser of the year, pulled in at least $45,000 on Saturday. Centre County United Way executive director Tammy Gantzel says she expects the total tally to top $50,000, though there won’t be a final number until Monday at the earliest.
The sale is a real twofer when it comes to philanthropic events. The money raised to keep the United Way up and running is great, but the secondary effort of prolonging the life of would-be garbage is an important one.
“The primary goal is repurposing. Reuse, repurpose, and recycle,” Gentzel says. “As long as we end the day with everything but the broken stuff gone, we’re really happy.”
While the sale’s name implies that the goods on display were left in dorms to be thrown in a dumpster and rescued by the United Way, that isn’t necessarily the case.
“A lot of people think they’re just junking this stuff and they’re not,” Gentzel says. “It’s a purposeful donation.”
And that purposeful donation goes toward a great cause. The United Way distributes funds to help support those who need education, shelter, food, income, and health care.
“In the end, what this sale means is somebody gets help. Somebody gets a handout when they need it,” Gentzel says. “Somebody gets in trouble and couldn’t work for a couple weeks because they were sick and now they can’t pay their rent. Now they can pay it. Maybe they have a disabled child who needs some extra attention in school and now they’ll get the help they need. And it’s all because of this kind of effort.”
In State College, it seems like there are a handful of charitable fundraisers every weekend. The AAUW used book store was just a couple weeks back. Centre Sings is coming up next weekend. And Gentzel says that’s par for the course when it comes to this area.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re called Happy Valley,” she says. “We always help each other and take care of each other. We always work to reuse things and think of inventive ways to help our neighbors.”
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