Sheccid Rodriguez and Joseph Benefiel, two first-years from Los Angeles, CA, have worked hard to organize a clothing donation collection on McAlister lasting from Tuesday, April 19th through Thursday, April 21st from 11am to 1pm in partnership with BSU and TU Gente. The sale, which will be explained further in the interview below, will be the following week in the Pedersen Lobby in the LBC on Tuesday, April 26th and Thursday, April 28th from 11am to 3pm. Not only is their contribution to the event impressive, and gives Tulane students an easy way to support clubs and charities, but it is great timing as well, as we are all going to be leaving for summer soon, and packing up always leads to finding old clothing that could just as well be a big question mark. If you need any more convincing than this, they also set up a 20% discount coupon for the sale if you donate three or more pounds of clothing to the donation collection. The interview below shares more about how they got the idea and what the big picture of the donation looks like.
What different things were you each responsible for organizing and who else/what other resources were a big help to you?
Joseph had a big part in leading our social media and outreach for the campaign! He is the one behind the lovely graphics on our instagram @clothesbythepound, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already. Sheccid has been the lead of logistics for the event, making sure everything can run as smoothly as possible.
We’re also doing this project in conjunction with USG’s Freshman Leadership Program. Our FLP coordinators and cohort have both been huge supporters from the very beginning. The executive boards for BSU and Gente have also sponsored us for funding and event space reservations.
Who is hosting the event and how did you get the inspiration for it?
This event is hosted by both BSU and TU Gente, and we are excited to have both of these multicultural organizations as the foundation of the event! Hearing our friends talk about how cramped their closets were getting toward the end of the school year was definitely a large inspiration for the event. We knew there had to be a better way to get rid of unwanted clothes without just throwing them in the trash, so we came up with this!
Do you need to agree to shop the sale if you are dropping off clothes or can you just drop off clothes and let others shop?
You are free to participate in any part of the event that you wish! If that means just stopping by to donate clothes or checking out our shop, we encourage whatever form of participation that works for you.
Have you done an event like this before?
We haven’t! It’s both exciting and scary to do an event like this one for the first time. What the sale looks like is largely impacted by how the donations process goes, but we have confidence that our TU community will come out and support us!
Where did the idea come from to price clothing based on weight, regardless of retail value?
Being from Los Angeles, the “thrift culture” is prominent. We got the idea from our favorite thrift store in the city called Flamingos on Melrose! This event was our way of bringing a little piece of home onto campus while addressing causes we are passionate about.
How will the money raised be used to support local BIPOC organizations?
TU Gente will use their share of profits to increase visibility of the club on campus as the money will allow for more outreach and events for students. BSU will be donating their portion of the proceeds to a local BIPOC charity that will be announced in the near future. Definitely stay tuned for that!
Do you have any future plans or further comments you would like to add?
If our event ends up having a positive turn out it would be amazing to possibly hold the event annually! Thank you for giving our project a platform.
Photo by: Lennard Buluran
Cover Photo by: Janae Burney
