Keene State’s Eco-Reps club partnered with the Sustainability Office and the Thrifty Owl last week to promote sustainability on campus by hosting the organization’s annual Share The Love Clothing Swap.
On Friday, Feb. 13, students were able to go to the L.P. Young Student Center’s Flag Room and refresh their closets just in time for Valentine’s Day by taking home clothes that had been donated or by donating clothes of their own.
Senior and Eco-Reps President Amanda Rotigliano explained that the partnership between Eco-Reps and the Thrifty Owl was a natural one, as the club’s former advisor was the head of the Office of Sustainability and the two organizations share similar goals.
“Our club’s mission is to promote sustainability for students, so we like showcasing these spaces on campus that can help students be more sustainable,” Rotigliano said. “The Thrifty Owl is a big one that a lot of students don’t really know about, so we like doing all these events to help promote the Sustainability Office and these spaces on campus.”
Rotigliano said the goal of the Clothing Swap event was to help students live more sustainable lives in an easy way.
“A lot of students buy a lot of clothes and then don’t wear them, and promoting some easy sustainability, such as donating clothes for students to find and wear, is such a simple swap that college students can make when they have clothing that they’re not wearing instead of throwing it away,” said Rotigliano.
“It’s such a simple way for college students to add sustainability into their daily lives,” she added. “Making students aware of how easy it is to be sustainable and live sustainably is such an important thing to help protect the Earth and keep trash out of our campus.”
Sustainability intern at the Thrifty Owl and junior Laurel Feindel said she was excited about the event being a collaboration with Eco-Reps.
“Since the Thrifty Owl is open to everyone, any club could potentially get involved,” Feindel said. “I think that having a basis in sustainability is great, because thrifting is a wonderful way to use your resources wisely and just give back what you’re not going to use and recycle what other people won’t use, so that’s a great match between the Sustainability Office and Eco-Reps.”
Senior Lena Goins, treasurer for Eco-Reps and sustainability intern, talked about what it was like to be a part of a collaboration between two organizations that she is a part of.
“It’s good because working together with organizations on campus creates a much stronger movement and message. The Sustainability Office can contribute things to Eco-Reps, and Eco-Reps can contribute a student perspective to the Sustainability Office,” said Goins.
Goins said the event provided a great opportunity for students to get clothing items they might need for free.
“First of all, we’re all college students, so it’s free clothing, which is amazing,” said Goins. “It’s also just an easy way to get something new. I’ve popped into one of these clothing swaps before not expecting to get something and then came out with something that I needed for an event later that night.”
Goins said the Office of Sustainability is hoping to host another clothing swap event later this semester in partnership with the Cultural Center.
For Eco-Reps, the club is looking forward to their annual major events happening later this semester, such as their Earth Day Celebration in April and Solar Fest in May.
Eco-Reps general meetings take place every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Science Center room 126.
Justin Dearborn can be contacted at
jdearborn@kscequinox.com
