Carlmont’s Associated Student Body (ASB) is hosting a clothing drive in preparation for their Monty’s Thrift Shop event.
Students are encouraged to donate clothing into bins outside the ASB room, at the pool roundabout, and at the senior lot until April 26. ASB will sell the collected items at Monty’s Thrift Shop on May 1, where customers can pay an entrance fee of two dollars to fill up an entire basket of clothing.
“Our goal is to have people repurpose their own clothes instead of having them go to waste,” said Carlmont freshman Maddy Ho.
Ho is an ASB freshman vice president (VP) and is helping organize the drive.
Clothing waste is a huge environmental problem, with 85% of clothing produced every year in the United States getting thrown away, totaling 81.5 lbs of clothes thrown away per person, according to Earth.org.
“If you wore something just once and left it in your closet or it doesn’t fit anymore, then that’s a good opportunity to donate,” said Carlmont sophomore Lucas Zago.
Zago is one of the ASB sophomore VPs and is also helping to organize the clothing drive.
Every day, Carlmont ASB sets out bins for people to donate. Later, they sort the variety of different garments that people have donated.
“We get a lot of pants, shirts, and hats, and we just got socks as well,” Ho said. “Last year, we got three tables of clothes, so we are expecting that amount or more.”
ASB works hard to get people to donate because they still lack what is needed, despite the large quantities of items donated.
“We go to thrift shops and buy other clothes if we don’t have enough,” Zago said.
Buying additional clothes costs extra money. However, it will allow for a further supply of usable garments to be sold to those visiting Monty’s Thrift Shop.
“People that struggle to afford good clothes can come here and buy them cheaply,” Zago said.
ASB will sell all items donated to the drive to help those in the community. According to Value Penguin, the average household in the United States spends about $120 per month on clothes, which can be a struggle for some.
“I’m trying to donate to the people who can’t afford it; it’s going to go to a good cause,” said Carlmont sophomore and clothing donator Euclid Wong.
The clothing drive will remain open this week and next week, ending on April 26. Carlmont ASB routinely does different drives to help the community by gaining donations from Carlmont Students, such as their annual food drive in November.
“It just makes me really happy to see the clothes donated since they would otherwise go to the trash,” Zago said.
