Members of the VCU community not only can earn some extra cash, but also can become more involved in the community this Saturday by selling trash for cash. The Cash for Trash event allows students and others to rent tables to sell items. Unsold items are then donated to a charity.
In this first community yard sale, students can rent a table for $5, while others pay $10.
Kelli Lemon, assistant director of programs and events for the University Student Commons and student activities, and Constantine Alexakos, coordinator for informal recreation and special events, shared ideas about sponsoring such an event on the Monroe Park Campus.
“It was a bunch of administrators sitting around,” Lemon said, “and someone said that we should have a big yard sale at the end of the year and encourage students to not only do a little bit of spring cleaning but also to realize that every person’s trash is someone else’s treasure. So instead of going out and buying all these things for summer apartments, maybe we could recycle things.”
Alexakos and Lemon discussed the idea.
“This is our first time doing this type of event,” he said. “I pretty much was thinking of an idea for some type of flea market or yard sale type of event, and I called Kelli Lemon up from the programs office in the Commons, and she was thinking the same thing.
“So instead of doing two separate events, we combined the two. Kelli came up with the name Cash for Trash, and that’s how we began to do it.”
Students are able to sell anything they want from clothes to furniture.
“I think we’ll have everything from books to unwanted furniture. A lot of students will move out and throw away things because they have no place to put furniture,” Lemon said, adding that clothes and furniture probably will be the biggest items.
Alexakos agreed, saying he’s thinking the same.
“Anything that you might see at a yard sale on the side of the road, we’re thinking the same thing here.”
VCU Recycling will be on hand to collect unsold items, which will be donated to charities with help from Vietnam veterans.
The Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will bring cats and dogs for people to see and perhaps adopt.
“We were also approached by SPCA to come out and do the animal adoption,” Lemon said. “So were looking to relieve stress a little bit. We’re going to have the dogs and cats out there-you know, you pick up a couch, you pick up a dog.
“We’re right here in the middle of Richmond, and it’s a way for us to branch out.”
Tables are open to everyone, whether a student, faculty or staff.
“We just hope to build camaraderie,” Lemon said. “We’re neighbors-you know, you’ve got Oregon Hill on one side and the Carver community on the other side. It’s just to do something to bring them all together.”
Students say they, too, are excited about the event even if they aren’t sure if they will sell anything. Lindsey Collins, a history major, plans to look for items for her new apartment and possibly even buy a table.
“I think it’s a very good idea to have a community yard sale, so to speak,” Collins said. “The tables are reasonably priced and it’s open to anyone. Weather permitting, it could turn out really well. My mom has been talking about having a yard sale for a while, so I might ask her to help me do it. That way I could be around other people, and it wouldn’t be boring.”
Alexakos, also optimistic about the event, said he hopes students will use this opportunity to get rid of unwanted items and possibly even pick up a few new things: “Add something else to the mix-a great opportunity for people to sell their stuff. You know, if they’re moving to a new apartment and they don’t want to take it with them or they’re just finished with it. And it’s also an opportunity to come and buy things for their apartment or themselves.
“I hope to see you out there. Get a table before they run out. It’s the first time, so we would like it to be a success. And hope for good weather.”