Lenape Regional High School District fifth annual “Give to Goodwill” clothing drive underway

Game on. The Lenape Regional High School District’s fifth annual “Give to Goodwill” clothing drive competition kicked off on Monday, March 7 and runs through Friday, April 15.

During this six week drive, students, faculty, family and friends at all four district high schools will be on a quest to see which school can collect the most pounds of donations per student. Cherokee is the reigning champ — having captured first place in the last four Give to Goodwill Clothing Drive Competitions.

This Give to Goodwill community service project was organized by students and faculty advisors from each high school in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Southern NJ and Philadelphia.

Proceeds from the sale of all donations collected fund Goodwill’s job training programs and career services that help local residents with disabilities and disadvantages get to work.

Since its inception in 2012, Lenape Regional High School District students have collected 165,760 pounds of donations for Goodwill.

“We are pleased to once again partner with Goodwill in this friendly competition between our district high schools,” said Lenape Regional Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carol Birnbohm. “This is a wonderful way for students to learn the importance of recycling and supporting local philanthropy.”

The Give to Goodwill clothing drive competition coincides with the spring cleaning season. Goodwill donation containers will be conveniently located in each school’s parking lot making for easy access for students, staff and families to donate gently-used clothing, accessories, toys, books and other small household items.

Once a container is full, a Goodwill truck will empty it; count the number of bags in it; and then compute the number of pounds of donations collected.

Donation results for each school will be periodically posted on the district’s website (www.lrhsd.org) and on Goodwill’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GoodwillNJ).

The school that collects the most donations (based on pounds per student) will be crowned the 2016 Champion and receive a plaque that can proudly be displayed at their school until the 2017 competition begins.

In addition, the Volunteer Service Award recipient from each school will be selected to receive a $250 scholarship from Goodwill.

“Collecting more than 100K pounds of donations is incredibly impactful on an organization like Goodwill,” said Goodwill president and CEO Mark B. Boyd. “Donations are what fuel Goodwill’s job training programs and career services that help local residents with disabilities and disadvantages get to work. These donations truly are changing lives for the better through the power of work.”