By Megan Matthews
Grand Rapids Community College is hosting a clothing drive and free clothing shop for students to help reduce the effects of fast fashion and support the needs of all students.
The clothing drive will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 3-6 in the Student Life Office, where students can donate items for the shop.
“I believe that basic needs resources are a community effort,” said Rebecca Lubbers, GRCC’s Student Resources Coordinator. “It’s a community problem and involves community solutions, and GRCC has been trying to create this event for some time now because of that.”
Those looking to donate clothes can bring their items to the Student Life office on April 3-6. However, they will now continue to accept donations at any point during their open hours of operation throughout the year for a Clothing Closet, an upcoming addition to GRCC’s campus. Donation receipts are available upon request.
“The room that used to be used for the food pantry is being cleared out, basically as we speak, to be able to be a place to host clothes in the future after the free clothing shop,” said Lubbers.
Following the clothing drive, the Free Clothing Shop will then take place 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. April 6 & 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. April 7 where the collected donations will be available for GRCC students currently enrolled with a school ID. Donations are not required to shop.
Students can stop in while on campus where there will be a staff member available to check IDs, give some basic information about the event, and answer any questions they might have. There will be a display of tables and clothing racks for students to choose their free clothing items from, and bags available when leaving the office.
“We just want to see students succeed,” said Lubbers. “GRCC is a stepping stone for students… and so by having a community come together for this, it shows we really support this endeavor and we recognize a student’s worth and needs.”
