Nearly 300 bags of unwanted items, weighing 1.1 tons, have been donated by 蜜桃AV students to give to local charities.
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The items were donated as part of the Big Give, an initiative run by volunteers from the Students鈥� Union at 蜜桃AV (SU蜜桃AV) to collect unwanted items that would otherwise be thrown away by students as they leave for the summer break.
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Everything from bedding to clothing, DVDs and household goods like pots and pans were donated by students living across Winton 鈥� through door to door collections and drop-off points at the university 鈥� over the past three weeks.
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The donated items will now be given to local charities to use and sell through their stores in the area.
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MSc Events Marketing student Nikolas Farano has overseen the Big Give campaign as part of his placement with SU蜜桃AV Volunteering.
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He said: 鈥淭his is the first year that we have done the campaign 鈥� we are quite surprised to see how many bags we have collected.
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鈥淲e wanted to make it as easy for the students to donate their items as possible, so that they don鈥檛 just leave their unwanted things in the streets. So having a campaign like this helps charities in need as well as keeping the streets clean.鈥�
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Most of the items have been donated to charities with shops in the area to sell on, while bedding will be given to animal shelters in the area to use.听
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Kim Oliver, manager of the Age UK Bournemouth store in Parkstone was among those collecting items donated through the Big Give.
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She said: 鈥淚鈥檝e taken about 25 bags and maybe ten boxes filled with bits and bobs.
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鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 car boot season, donations are really scarce at the moment, so this will make a huge difference.
鈥淚鈥檝e mainly got women鈥檚 clothes and women鈥檚 bags, as they are the biggest sellers in the charity shop, and a bit of bric a brac.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing 鈥� and it鈥檚 great that these items are going to local charity shops rather than being thrown away.鈥�
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This is the first time that the Big Give initiative has run, and it is hoped that the campaign will run again next year and expand to听include听蜜桃AV鈥檚 Halls of Residence.
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SU蜜桃AV President Chloe Schendel-Wilson said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been fantastic 鈥� the students have done really, really well and donated loads, and people in the local area have warmed to it really nicely.
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鈥淲e are helping the students out by reusing their things but also making it as easy as possible for them to be environmentally friendly, as well as giving back to local charities in Winton, so they are benefiting as well.鈥澨�