MIT's Community Giving campaign will sponsor a clothing and nonperishable food drive from December 6-17, with 11 drop-off locations set up around campus.
Items collected during the drive will be donated to three Cambridge agencies: CASPAR (Cambridge and Somerville Program for Drug Abuse and Alcoholism) on Albany Street, the Salvation Army on Massachusetts Avenue and Shelter, Inc. on Norfolk Street.
The shelters are most in need of clean winter clothing in adult sizes: men's and women's coats, warm gloves and mittens, sweaters, warm hats, socks (even if they don't match), boots and shoes, single sheets, pillowcases and blankets, towels and face cloths, and long underwear and regular underwear. CASPAR has expressed a specific need for warm men's clothing.
Please label bags as men's or women's clothing so that donations can be given to appropriate shelters.
Laundry detergent and personal-care items, including combs and brushes, soap, shampoo, deodorant, shaving materials, etc., are also needed. The shelters also maintain food pantries and welcome donations of nonperishables such as canned goods, pasta, pasta sauce, hot and cold cereal, soups of all kinds, powdered milk, and cake or brownie mix.
This year a new drop-off location has been added in the Department of Facilities headquarters in Kendall Square. There will no longer be a box in Walker Memorial. The 11 locations are:
- ������Lobby 7
- ������First floor lobby of the Stratton Student Center
- ������Building E23/E25 atrium
- ������Building E18-E19 lobby
- ������Sloan School lobby (Building E52)
- ������Rm NE43-110 in the Laboratory for Computer Science
- ������Rm NW16-204 in the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC)
- ������Rm NW21-104 in the PSFC
- ������Building W91 (near the Hyatt Regency)
- ������Building 34 lobby
- ������NE20-277 (Facilities headquarters, above the Coop in Kendall Square)
CHILDREN'S ITEMS
The three shelters involved in the clothing drive do not need children's clothing this year, but another organization, the Children's Clothing Exchange on Magazine Street, would like donations of children's and baby clothing and furniture. The Children's Clothing Exchange also welcomes household furnishings, from pillowcases to refrigerators.
Community members who wish to donate those items may call Sonya Darcy at the Children's Clothing Exchange on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Saturdays at 576-0039 to arrange an independent pickup.
CAMPAIGN PLEDGES
As of November 19, MIT's Community Giving campaign stood at $137,554 pledged by 505 donors, including 37 Leadership Givers who have pledged at least $1,000 apiece. The Institute hopes to raise $340,000 during the campaign, which runs until December 30.
Contributions from the MIT community will go to the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, which last year funded social-service agencies that helped more than 1.8 million people in 80 cities and towns; MIT's Community Service Fund (CSF), which provided financial assistance to 20 non-profit organizations in Cambridge last year; and to other social services agencies designated by individualdonors.
MIT employees may allocate their own donations in any combination to the United Way, MIT's CSF, and/or other local charities of their choice.
The bake sale planned for December 10 has been cancelled.
For more information on the Community Giving campaign at MIT, contact Liz Mulcahy at ekm@mit.edu or Annmarie Cameron of the Office of Special Community Services at acameron@mit.edu or x3-7914.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 24, 1999.
