Pennsylvanian Middle School Raises 10,000 Pounds of Clothing Donations

April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot once wrote, but for one middle school in central Pennsylvania this year’s April is pretty much the opposite.

GantDaily.com reports that the DuBois Middle School and the Goodwill of North Central Pennsylvania teamed up last month and held a clothing donation drive to celebrate the beginning of spring. By April, the school’s students and faculty collected more than 10,000 pounds of clothing for Goodwill.

“We felt that a service learning project through Goodwill was a great way to get the student body and the community involved,” said Principal Wendy Benton. “Participating in the drive is easy. We planned this project specifically around the beginning of spring because we knew a lot of people, just like ourselves, are doing spring cleaning.”

The drive began as a project devised by the school’s Good to Great Committee, a committee made up of the faculty dedicated to “continuous school improvement.” The committee decided to collaborate with the school’s National Junior Honor Society for the drive, and made it into a competition.

“Every morning members of National Junior Honor Society collected the donations, delivered them to the weighing station and tracked the progress,” Benton said. “An announcement was made at the end of every day to share the progress of each team and to identify the top three teams.”

From March 16th to the 27th, DuBois students furiously collected clothing, vying for the top prize. The winning team, composed of 8th grade students, collected 2,262 pounds of clothing. The runner-up, another 8th grade team, were 61 pounds short of the winning team’s collection. The winning team will be rewarded with a pizza party and both teams will be presented with an award from the Goodwill of North Central Pennsylvania.

In addition, Goodwill made a financial donation to the school, which will use the money for special projects in the future.

“Participating in a Goodwill Donation Drive is the ultimate win-win,” Benton said. “Goodwill helps the school fundraise while the students help keep the pounds of unwanted items they collect out of landfills. Once those donations reach Goodwill they help create jobs and provide training to individuals in the community.”