The event will take play in the Keaney Gym parking lot and students, community members, faculty, and staff will join forces to make this event bigger and better than previous years.
While students were busy with exams and moving out of their residence halls for the summer, they were also donating food and clothing to charity and household items toward the yard sale. All items were collected during reading and finals week and were dropped off at food and clothing boxes in each residence hall.
Food and seasonal clothing are being donated to the Jonnycake Center in Peace Dale while other clothing and household items are being donated to Big Sisters. Proceeds from the yard sale benefit the Rhody the Ram Endowment, which funds scholarships for students who volunteer as URI’s mascot.
In the past 5 years, the yard sale collections have resulted in more than 8,000 pounds of food being collected, and 2,895 pounds of that total has been given to the Jonnycake Center.
“This event has benefitted the local community a great deal since it started,” said Gerri Beagle, human resources and business manager of the URI Foundation.
“Along with helping the community, we also raise money for student scholarships. We also hope that it reminds young students to be less wasteful and donate their food and clothing to a good cause.”
Staff, faculty and community members are encouraged to drop off their donations at a new site: the Boss Arena storage room. Donations will be accepted Thursdays, May 17, 24, and 31 from 4 to 6 p.m. and also on Friday, June 8 in the Keaney parking lot from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Community members are also encouraged to set up their own tables to sell their items at the yard sale. The cost to rent a table is $25.
Recipients of the Rhody the Ram Endowment scholarships must be at least sophomores in good academic standing. The scholarship program helps recruit prospective mascots, retain current ones and reward them for their hard work.
To volunteer or for more information, please contact Gerri Beagle at 401-874-2460 or gbeagle@foundation.uri.edu, or Anita Burke at 401-874-2116 or aburke@advance.uri.edu.
This press release was written by Franco Lo Presti, a public relations major and intern in the URI Department of Communications & Marketing.