By Sofia Pavlenko, Alliance Intern from Rutgers University ‘25
My parents immigrated to this country in 1998 in search of opportunity and a better way of life. They fled the Soviet regime with the clothes on their backs and a small suitcase. Based on their experiences, I was raised to give back to those who need it most whenever I have the chance.
I adopted this mindset. As a child my sister and I donated half of our piggy banks. As we became teens we consistently donated clothing, food and personal items. Then, as a Rutgers student, I saw how food insecurity and poverty impacted my peers and New Brunswick residents. It made me wonder, how can I take initiative and help?
Embracing the values of my family, I began to organize my community and mobilize my peers and colleagues to take action on pressing local issues. I held both a clothing and food drive, to directly impact those struggling.
Facing Our Consumption Addiction, What Fuels It and What We Can Do About It
Many of us are overwhelmed by our consumption addiction. We may feel it and even see it, but it’s hard to take in just how much stuff we have. Nobody has actually counted a whole American house, but when UCLA anthropologists inventoried 32 middle-class homes, one family’s living room and two bedrooms alone held 2,260 visible objects, before opening a single drawer.
I was surprised by this number. With the ease of consumption being reduced to a click of a button, our society is hooked on buying without consequence. It feels like overconsumption has reached an all-time high.
Social media has acted as a catalyst for the increase in ‘micro-trends‘, a short-lived trend where clothing is quickly mass-produced, sold and phased out by another trend. A vicious cycle is created by purchasing garments, wearing them only once or twice and then discarding them. The Alliance has been writing about this troubling trend, especially with fast fashion, led by companies like SHEIN.
This stark increase in harmful “take-make-waste” cycles needs to be addressed. Fortunately, there are sustainability solutions that can be introduced into our cultural consumption. We can reject the present system, and instead focus on a circular economy. While there are many mini circular economies, they all share a common theme: items are bought mindfully (considering impacts on labor, health and the environment), used for a longer time, reused, donated responsibly, repaired, repurposed and ideally recycled or composted.
Some Incredibly Helpful Existing Rutgers Programs Meeting People’s Needs
I was curious about how I could transform my own ‘take-make-waste’ approach to embrace circularity and positively impact my community. As a Rutgers student, I looked at what programs are already in place to meet the needs of students and New Brunswick residents.
Rutgers has a variety of excellent support systems, food pantries and clothing drives run by the Office of Climate Action and RU Thrifty, an organization which educates the community about the dangers of fast fashion by creating pop-up thrift stores. Additionally, Rutgers provides a free Career Closet, offering business clothing free of charge for students in need of professional clothing for interviews, job fairs and other events. Among many more organizations, I knew that Rutgers had a social network designed to help others.
Two Urgent Unmet Needs I Chose to Address: Clothing and Food Drives
I’ve long been concerned about the challenges faced by people in war torn countries. This is heightened by the stories I’ve heard from my relatives in Ukraine, for whom having adequate winter clothing is a struggle given the lack of heating.
Consequently, I decided to take initiative in the Fall of 2022 and create a winter clothing drive to help people in Ukraine. I relied on word of mouth and set up a donation box at my former sorority’s home, where peers and fellow students donated clothing items. I collected two massive boxes of clothing. I then shipped the clothing to Ukraine, where my relatives distributed the collected items. Even though I wasn’t solving the larger issue of war and poverty, it was meaningful to take action.
I then wanted to do something for my local community as I knew food shelves were running low on supplies. I organized a food drive through my tennis club and was able to donate nearly a hundred cans to local food pantries around Thanksgiving! Taking time to help others during a busy holiday season gave me a new reason to look forward to holidays.
As all good things go, there were definitely some bumps in the road. I ran into issues with organizing college students in the midst of final exams, collecting responses, adequately communicating with other organizations who may have helped and actually collecting enough items to create a measurable impact.
I was able to mitigate some of these challenges by leaning on my community for support, reaching out to people experienced in driving initiatives. While some ideas never left the drawing board, they still served as an inspiration to me and my team.
Every Thing Can Make a Difference and Fill Your Cup
While at first I wished I could do more, I know that “anything helps” is a true fact. When someone has nothing, a winter coat or a warm meal can seem like everything. That’s why I’m going to keep donating clothing, blankets, towels and food at least once a month.
Giving back not only feels good, but drives like these help people in need save money while creating more awareness about overconsumption and connecting us with our communities. Seeing direct impacts fills my cup and those of others. Take the initiative and help your community today!