A year’s worth of late-night grocery store trips, care packages, and assembled furniture can leave students with more than they can transport home. George Mason University’s annual Patriot Packout offers students the opportunity to avoid the trash stream and donate their unwanted items to their local community. Rather than discarding them, on-campus students at our Fairfax campus are invited to donate their clothing (clean/lightly used), small household appliances, furniture, and non-perishable food to our campus and community partners in the donation bins placed in each residence hall’s lobby.
This year, we are again donating to Mason’s Patriot Pantry, Food for Others, as well as the veteran’s service organization AMVets. Any non-perishable food items are accepted, but lists of items Patriot Pantry is specifically looking for will be hanging near bins in the lobbies. Students should drop off their items in the labeled bins anytime between May 6 to May 19.
Additionally, if students have parking citations, Parking & Transportation is offering credit toward tickets in exchange for donating certain goods. To qualify, students should refer to the approved items list, and items must be delivered to Parking & Transportation at either the Fairfax, SciTech, or Arlington campuses by noon on May 17. On and off-campus students are eligible for this program credit. Finally, this year’s Patriot Packout also includes a new bike donation option! All students would need to drop their unwanted bike (instead of abandoning it) at the Shenandoah Parking Deck, first floor near the cage. Please do not block traffic or parking spots, and note there will be no tax receipts given as due to the nature of this drop off system.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is a hierarchy – with the greatest goal being reduction. However, reusing items already purchased is the next best thing, as the items that students contribute can then find a new home in our community – which is greatly preferred to those items ending up in the trash! With the cooperation and contributions of Mason students, Patriot Packout helps us ‘green’ Mason and push toward zero-waste. During last year’s event, students donated over 10,000 pounds of goods, including over 2,000 pounds of nonperishable food items at move out! Please consider participating or volunteering for this effort.
For more information on other Sustainable Mason programs, to sign up for our Sustainable Scoop newsletter, and other ways to green Mason please go to green.gmu.edu. For more on ways to get involved in PPO, please go to green.gmu.edu/community/patriot-pack-out-ppo.
Amber Saxton
Sustainability Program Manager
Sustainable Mason
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