Don't Ditch It, Donate It

June 23, 2021 |

"Don’t Ditch It, Donate It" is the annual end-of-year sustainability program hosted by Carolina Housing, Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling (OWRR), Carolina Thrift, Carolina Cupboard and TROSA Thrift Store to collect unwanted items. The goal of the program is to donate and reuse items, rather than adding to the local landfills. Clothes, shoes, futons, mirrors, storage bins, school supplies and so much more are donated by students who no longer need or want to take them home at the end of the spring semester.

Debbie Bousquet, Carolina Housing’s assistant director of facilities management, coordinates the program and works with campus partners to ensure they are collecting as many items as possible to donate. This year Carolina Housing had a number of extra mini refrigerators that needed to be rehomed. Bousquet partnered with the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill (RMHCH), which was in need of some refrigerators.

The Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill provides a home-away-from-home for families with pediatric patients staying at UNC Children's Hospital. Because of COVID-19, RMHCH was required to close their shared kitchen space, which had refrigerators for families to use. This necessary inconvenience sent Executive Director Heather Shanahan in search of some gently used mini refrigerators for use by the families staying with RMHCH.

On June 17, RMHCH picked up five gently used mini-refrigerators to add to their family spaces.

"Carolina Housing is excited to connect with the Chapel Hill Community and donate to such a great cause," said Bousquet. "We would like to thank all of the students who did donate items this year. Not only were we able to keep a tractor trailer load of items out of the landfills, we were also able to help out the families at RMHCH. We hope to continue our partnership with RMHCH in future years to come."

Pictured: Heather Shanahan, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill, stands with refrigerators from the Carolina Housing "Don't Ditch It, Donate It" program. Story shared by Carolina Housing.

Sharing and printing options: