Syracuse University’s annual Ten Tons of Love Charity Drive will now seek donations from faculty and staff members as well as students.

The drive began on April 24, where people often donate clothing, food, kitchenware, electronics, computers and Halloween costumes, said Reverend Craig Herrick, a pastor at the First English Lutheran Church.

This year, the campaign is also reaching out to SU faculty and staff to fill a need for professional and business attire, as well as children’s books, toys and clothing, said Elin Riggs, director of the office of off-campus and commuter services. Items collected during the drive will go to the First English Lutheran Church of Syracuse. From there, the items are donated to those in need in the Syracuse community, she said.

Collection boxes for goods were placed in each residence hall on campus, as well as Hendricks Chapel, Archbold Gymnasium and the State University of New York Environmental Science and Forestry residence hall, Riggs said. Starting every weekday between April 30 and May 12, trucks donated by SU affiliates and other businesses will deliver the items to the church, she added. The boxes feature the stories of people who have benefited from Ten Tons of Love, along with items they are looking for, Riggs said.

Last year, Ten Tons of Love collected about 50 tons of donated items, she said. This year, she said she hopes to collect 55–60 tons, due to donations from faculty and staff.

Herrick said the program has grown from its start almost 20 years ago. For the first collection, Herrick and a group of six to eight volunteers placed boxes in a few of the residence halls, he said. Riggs said as many as 50 students now volunteer annually to distribute boxes and pick up donations.

Ten Tons of Love has expanded beyond the SU Hill in recent years. Last year, students at Onondaga Community College held a drive of their own and donated a boxcar of items to the church, Riggs said.

This year, Riggs also enlisted the help of the SU chapter of Delta Chi fraternity. Nikolay Rodionov, the fraternity’s director of alumni relations, said they handle the logistics of coordinating pick-ups and drop-offs of the donations. Delta Chi contacts the local businesses and associations that donate the use of their trucks to the cause, he said.

Rodionov said that although volunteers are hard to find during finals week, he hopes to get other greek organizations involved in the future.

At the church, as many as 300 volunteers sort the clothing and other items and then package them until the summer when they are distributed to the needy, Herrick said. He said some of the items are given to other organizations to distribute, such as the Center for New Americans’ Refugee Resettlement Program, as long as they give away the items for free.

Herrick said he has seen more and more SU students use the services provided by the First English Lutheran Church and Ten Tons of Love. Many students are aware of the poverty in the city, but they may forget about the poverty facing students on campus, he said.

The donations are both beneficial for the environment and people in need in Syracuse, Herrick said.

“It’s just been great. On one hand, we’re keeping stuff out of the landfill, and on the other hand it’s really providing necessary items to folks living in poverty all over the city of Syracuse,” Harrick said.

Published on April 29, 2014 at 2:01 am

Contact Zach: zdschwei@syr.edu