The Lenape Regional High School District’s fourth Annual Give to Goodwill Clothing Drive Competition is taking place now through Friday, April 17. During this eight-week drive, students, faculty, family and friends at all four district high schools will be on a quest to see which school can collect the most pounds of donations per student. Cherokee is the reigning champ, having captured first place in the last three years.
This Give to Goodwill community service project was organized by students and faculty advisors from each high school in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. Proceeds from the sale of all donations collected fund Goodwill’s job training programs and career services that help local residents with disabilities and disadvantages get to work. Since its inception in 2012, Lenape Regional High School District students have collected 109,387 pounds of donations for Goodwill.
“It is exciting to witness the friendly competition between the students and faculty from Lenape, Shawnee, Cherokee and Seneca, but enriching to know our local community members are the real winners in our partnership with Goodwill,” said Superintendent Carol Birnbohm.
The clothing drive competition coincides with the spring cleaning season. Goodwill donation containers will be conveniently located in each school’s parking lot making for easy access for students, staff and families to donate gently-used clothing, accessories, toys, books and other small household items. Once a container is full, a Goodwill truck will empty it, count the number of bags in it, and then compute the number of pounds of donations collected. Donation results for each school will be periodically posted on the district’s website and on Goodwill’s Facebook page. The school that collects the most donations (based on pounds per student) will be crowned the 2015 champion and receive a plaque that can proudly be displayed at their school until the 2016 competition begins. In addition, the Volunteer Service Award recipient from the champion school will receive the Outstanding Volunteer Award and $500 scholarship for their charitable works.
“This clothing drive competition has grown immensely in the last three years thanks to the support of the student bodies at each of the district high schools and the community at large,” said Goodwill President and CEO Mark B. Boyd. “It teaches Goodwill’s donors of tomorrow many lessons, including the importance of supporting local charities for the good of the community and recycling resources to contribute to a more sustainable tomorrow.”
