Last year’s collection set a record and Michael is confident 2015 numbers will break that mark.
ShareFest was started in 2005 in an effort to keep furniture, clothing and food not needed by departing Miami students out of the landfill. Prior to that, items were left at the curb for trash pickup.
ShareFest has evolved over the past 10 years from asking students to leave items out separate from trash pickup and with a sign to now scheduling pickups, which are not limited to just Miami students. Any Oxford resident wishing to donate items they no longer need can go on-line to schedule a pickup.
“This was a very good year,” Michael said. “We are still tabulating inventory sheets to determine tonnage, but it was very good.”
A report will be made to City Council once the final numbers are settled, but Michael and board secretary Andrew Wilson took time out from that effort this past week to go to Washington, D.C., to speak at the annual convention of the International Town and Gown Association.
“We will talk about how we originated the event and see if other universities would benefit from what we learned,” she said prior to leaving Oxford. “ShareFest is a city, university and community partnership.”
Word of the annual event has spread over the past decade and other communities have inquired about the operation, but she said this presentation in the nation’s capital would look at how Oxford deals with the problem of abandoned items on a large scale at the end of an academic year, in hopes it can spur similar programs elsewhere.
Donations are collected by volunteers from the community as well as the recipient agencies, which then use the items as they choose, often giving them to clients in need or by selling the items and using the proceeds to serve clients.
Items going to the Family Resource Center, for example, are sold to raise money for their services. Those items typically would be the type of things sold in their thrift store, but with the volume of items from ShareFest, they set up a special spring sale at another location for several days. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati planned to sell its items at their ReStore to raise money toward their efforts to eliminate substandard housing.
Butler County Children Services collected items to help set up first apartments for teenagers emancipated from foster care and the YWCA Hamilton used the donations to help with housing women who are homeless, dealing with mental illness issues, setting up transitional housing for those who might otherwise be homeless or those dealing with domestic violence.
Food items were given to the Oxford Community Choice Pantry and items not able to be used or taken by other agencies were provided to Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries, which provided a sorting and dispatch site at their new Oxford location expected to be opened later this year.
New this year was food donated to provide lunches for volunteers by Chipotle Mexican Grill, LaRosa’s Pizzeria, Little Caesars Pizza, SDS Pizza, Subway, Jimmy John’s and Kroger.
“Volunteers appreciated the businesses that provided lunch,” Michael said. “It was a welcome addition to ShareFest this year.”
Even though all the numbers are not in for this year, she said the project is a year-round effort and they are already encouraging people to think about some volunteer time next May.
“The site’s cleaned out and we can take a breath,” she said. “But I’m already thinking about next year.”
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