This Earth Day we wanted to express our gratitude the volunteers who donate their time helping us save materials from landfill and making them accessible to Philadelphia’s creative community!

We recently had an incredible group of volunteers visit from George Washington University’s Alternative Breaks Program. Their mission is to empower and challenge all students involved to understand their relationship with the global community through direct service, education, and reflection, while encouraging personal growth, social awareness, and active citizenship.

Over the course of two days, our volunteers helped us sort, untangle, clean, and process donations of reusable materials in the store.

Some of these dedicated students put our resourcePhilly Map to the test and took various types of materials to the proper drop off points in the city. They dropped off bags of  textile recycling to H&M, e-waste and styrofoam to drop off sanitation convenience centers, clothing to thrift stores, and plastic bags to grocery stores. Hannah, Katie, and Lindsey were all over the city!

“I just wanted to thank you all so much again for providing us the opportunity to serve with you all. It was an incredible experience that myself nor our participants will ever forget. You were able to open our eyes to an issue area not many of us new about before the trip, and created the opportunity to work directly and indirectly with the communities that you serve. I personally am so grateful for all the learning that occurred as well in our short time, it was fantastic to see the great work you do. We are so grateful for the experience, and we hope to be able to continue to take back what we learned to the our community at home.” Anna Gallicchio, ASB Philly Leader 

A big thank you to the ASB Philly team for all their hard work! We’re so grateful they chose to learn about Urban Sustainability and Education at the re!