The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics is bringing a different meaning to the age-old phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Wednesday marked the beginning of Falk’s ninth annual Thanksgiving rummage sale.  The three-day sale features items such as donated books, CDs, small electronics and appliances, as well as tableware and cooking supplies. All of the money made from the sale will be donated to United Way of Central New York.

For the past nine years, Linda Thomas, an office assistant in Falk, has organized the sale.  In the past, the event has raised as much as $1,200 for United Way, she said.

The goods being sold in the rummage sale are gently used and donated, said Kate Veley, Falk’s events and alumni manager.  She described the items as “things you just can’t use anymore, but somebody else might appreciate.”

Thomas and Veley said other items for sale include home decor, jewelry, children’s toys and gifts for the holiday season. The Social Workers United student organization is also selling baked goods, Thomas added.

The sale acts as a way to give back to United Way, Thomas said.

“A lot of the organizations that they are donating to are also donating to our students,” she said. “They, in turn, teach our students to be social workers in these organizations.”

United Way supports 95 programs at 35 agencies in Central New York, said Vince Spicola, United Way of Central New York’s marketing and communications director. Some of these organizations include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse, the American Red Cross, AURORA of Central New York and ARISE Child and Family Services.

For the first time, the sale will also give donators an opportunity to win one of 17 gift baskets that have been put together by different departments in Falk, said Beth Bagozzi, office coordinator in the marriage and family therapy department.

The rummage sale is only one of a handful of ways in which the university supports United Way.

“Faculty and staff across campus are all encouraged to do a payroll deduction to give to the United Way and that generates a larger percentage of the total that Syracuse University contributes,” Veley said.

SU has been working with United Way for 39 years, said Peg Northrup, assistant director in the Office of Government and Community Relations.

The rummage sale is just one event that takes place during the university’s fall fundraising campaign, which takes place every year, she said.  Northrup said that the university annually raises about $210,000 for the organization and approximately $16,000 of that money comes from campus events like the rummage sale.

Published on November 21, 2013 at 1:31 am

Contact Zach: zdschwei@syr.edu