Semester Sweep Out Gives Back to Community
Semester Sweep Out Directors, Megan Dinsmore ‘25 and Sophia Orr ‘26. Credit: Victoria Raspe '24
Spring is here, and with that comes spring cleaning. Instead of throwing out old clothes and items, volunteers around campus are offering a better solution.
The Semester Sweep Out is an annual school-wide donation drive at the end of the academic year where students can donate their used items to 11 different charities directly located in the Hudson Valley.
Students are not just limited to clothing; any other materials can be donated. Whether that’s because they are unwanted or cannot fit in the car ride home, it’s all usable. The Sweep Out will also accept non-perishable foods, household items, appliances, furniture, rugs, unopened personal hygiene items, unused cleaning products, bedding, office/school supplies, athletic equipment and books.
The program has been going on since 2022, and last year, it collected eight box trucks worth of items and around 350 pounds worth of non-perishable food items.
“I am very passionate about sustainability and giving back to the local community, and this project is the perfect way to combine those two in a meaningful way,” said Semester Sweep Out Director Sophia Orr ‘26. “This project has such a big impact on our local community, and it always makes me very happy to see how grateful our partners and the local community are after receiving our donations.”
“This initiative has not been very hard to get off the ground because it has always had very strong student leadership and very supportive colleagues in various units across campus,” said faculty advisor Dr. Melissa A. Gaeke. “The hardest part of the process is recruiting volunteers to help with the donation process and managing the volume of items that are given to the organizations.”
The Semester Sweep Out project originated from students who were alarmed at the amount of usable items that had been thrown away. “When you consider that, with the need among the community for those items, it makes it a win-win — we reduce the amount going into the landfill and assist residents by providing needed items,” said Gaeke.
Credit: Sophia Orr ‘26
The non-profit organizations that the program is partnering with this year are Hudson River Housing, Needle in the Haystack, Grace Smith House, Fareground, Hope on a Mission, A Giving Heart Ministry, Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, Dutchess Outreach, Dutchess Outreach Acts of Kindness, Meals on Wheel of Poughkeepsie and Children's Home of Poughkeepsie. All are located directly in the Hudson Valley and specifically seek to help the less enfranchised in the area.
Those interested in volunteering can sign up through the Semester Sweep Out’s Instagram account @semestersweepout. Students can now earn a priority point toward housing for up to or more than eight cumulative hours of work. The event will be taking place between May 8 — May 10 throughout various housing locations on campus.