The
Coop—Trinity’s on-campus thrift shop—will be open for the remainder of the
semester on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The
Coop sells an assortment of school supplies, housewares, electronics, and
clothes.
For more
information about The Coop, feel free the excerpt below from the most recent
newsletter of the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement. Or
you can also be in touch with The Coop manager, Stephanie Garcia at stephanie.garcia@trincoll.edu.
*******************************************************************************************
The
Coop—Trinity’s thrift shop—opened with at start of the Fall 2010 semester. The
purpose of The Coop is four-fold:
- Salvage
useable items that would otherwise be discarded by students, faculty, and
staff, particularly from the College’s residence halls.
- Provide an
opportunity for Trinity College students, faculty, and staff to purchase
needed used items inexpensively.
- Provide
students an opportunity to gain some experience running a (very) small
business.
- Raise money
for community organizations with which we already have ongoing
partnerships.
Most
of the items available for purchase at The Coop are left behind by students at
the end of the academic year and collected through a program called Dump and
Run—a project of the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement and
Trinity’s Green Campus organization. Dump and Run involves student volunteers
collecting and salvaging useable items, which are then sorted, organized, and
then either donated to local community organizations (e.g., Immaculate
Conception Shelter, Interval House, Tabor House, Hartford Catholic Worker,
Hartford Dog Pound, and the Salvation Army) or integrated into The Coop’s
inventory.
During
the 2011-2012 academic year, The Coop had enough volunteers to be open 12 hours
each week. Also, based on our experience from The Coop’s first year, we were
able to raise almost twice as much money in 2011-2012. After two years of
operation, The Coop had revenues of over $5,000, part of which will be used to
sustain the program and the remainder donated. During the Fall 2012 semester,
the Hartford Catholic Worker, Interval House, Immaculate Conception Shelter and
Housing Corporation, and Tabor House will each receive a check for $1,250 from
The Coop. We hope that going forward, we will be able to make annual
contributions to our community partners.
All
of this was made possible through the assistance of the Office of Campus Life,
Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement, Computing Center, and E&R
Cleaners. We are very grateful for all of their support.
*******************************************************************************************