Share the Warmth campaign starts on campus this Friday

Advertising the Share the Warmth campaign in Willard Straight Hall this week are, front row, seated, from left: Edward Biskup, Campus Life Drive Committee, and Perrin Bignoli '06, engineering; middle row, from left: Dick Page, Ithaca Rotary Club, Share the Warmth chair; Peter Alexander, Campus Life; Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman; Kathy Okun; Kensuke Mori '04, Ecology House Recycling Committee; Matthew Held, Campus Life Facilities; Jeffrey True, Ithaca Rotary Club president; and back row, from left: Tammy Beeching, Facilities Management; Gretchen Ryan '97, residence hall director for Ecology House; and Kristin Joseph and Christina Hilo, both from the Ecology House Recycling Committee. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

This month, the 11th annual Share the Warmth clothing drive will take place throughout the Ithaca area, beginning on the Cornell campus, Friday, Nov. 14.

Co-sponsored by Ecology House, Campus Life, Creating Chapters of Excellence, Ithaca College, Ithaca Rotary Club, the Samaritan Center of Catholic Charities and the Southside Community Center, the Share the Warmth project asks students, faculty, staff and Ithaca residents, during this Thanksgiving holiday season, to contribute clothing they no longer use -- particularly winter clothing, such as coats, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, earmuffs, thermal underwear, mittens and boots -- to those less fortunate.

Donation centers on the Cornell campus include: all undergraduate residence halls, all graduate housing service centers, all community centers, Statler Hall, Mann Library, Anabel Taylor Hall, Kennedy Hall, Olin Library, the Big Red Barn, Humphreys Service Center, East Hill Plaza, Day Hall and various fraternity and sorority houses. Donated clothing will be collected by Campus Life Housekeeping Services, under the supervision of Dale Walter, and by students from the recycling committee from Ecology House, who have taken on Share the Warmth as a fall project. All clothing collected on the Cornell campus will be delivered to Ecology House for sorting.

The Share the Warmth kickoff date for clothing collection in the greater Ithaca area is Nov. 19. Ithaca Rotary Club's Dick Page has lined up seven Ithaca area donation centers: Wegmans, Tops at Triphammer, Borg-Warner, NYSEG, Pyramid Mall, Center Ithaca on the Commons and P&C at East Hill Plaza. This 11th year of Share the Warmth also will have the addition of two sites in Trumansburg, located at the P&C and Shursave supermarkets. And for the second year, Ithaca College also will join the Share the Warmth campaign. Ithaca College will kick off its collection on Nov. 14, as well, sponsored by the Community Service and Leadership Development organization and under the supervision of Deb Mohlenoff, coordinator of community service.

Cornell students and staff, working with local Rotarians and others, will sort the Cornell-donated clothing from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at Ecology House. Then it will be distributed to the homeless and the many Tompkins County residents in need of warm clothing for this winter season.

The campaign has shown increasing success over the past few years, and this year organizers hope it will be the biggest collection ever.