By Kurt Martone, Staff Writer
The annual St. Bonaventure University move-out sale will take place this year, after not occurring last year. It will be held in Butler Gym, from May 17-19.
The move-out sale is the Franciscan Center for Social Concern’s way to give back to the community.
Valentina Cossio, a sophomore accounting major, is the student coordinator for the sale this year.
“It is basically a huge garage sale, and it’s a fundraising opportunity for the FCSC,” said Cossio. “In years past, [we] have gotten around $5,000 to $6,000 from the sale. It is a really great opportunity to fund our service and outreach programs,”
Volunteers for the sale set up donation boxes in student residences. They then collect these items, process, clean and set them up for resale.
“When people move, they tend to throw out a bunch of things.” said Alice Miller-Nation, director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern. “This is just a way to minimize the number of things that get thrown away and to offer the local community some really good things at a really good price.”
This year, the sale will take a break in the middle of the days to clean.
“We are going to use the university’s spraying system to sanitize everything at least three times a day,” said Miller-Nation.
The sale will also have volunteers stationed outside of Butler to keep track of every guest that comes in and out of the building.
“We will have someone keeping numbers on how many people go in and out of the building ; as well as another person who will make sure that everyone outside is socially distant and wearing masks,” Cossio said.
The move-out sale will be limited to 50 guests inside at a time. Cashiers will also wear gloves and use plexiglass dividers. The move-out sale will also be experimenting with a new feature this year.
“Butler is not ADA [American Disabilities Act] accessible so this year we are adding a virtual shopper feature, so if people cannot come into the building, we will have someone who can shop for them using FaceTime or Zoom,” said Miller-Nation.
If it was not for the COVID-19 task force’s decision to open campus back up to visitors, the move-out sale would not have been able to happen.
Donation boxes will be set up in the dorms at the beginning of finals week. They will be checked regularly for any donated items.
“Any and all donations are appreciated,” said Cossio.
Any donated items that are not sold at the move-out sale will be re-donated.
“There is an organization called Rescue Pups, and we give them bedding and comforters that do not sell… anything that we do not sell still makes its way to the community. I think it is a great cycle,” said Cossio.
“I find a great deal of support here on campus, for all the things we do at the FCSC,” said Miller-Nation. “The move-out sale is no exception.”
Students and other members of the Bonaventure community will get a 10% discount for the first two hours of the sale.
martonkd18@bonaventure.edu
