Work for students might end after finals, but for Tiger Treasures, that’s when the real work begins.
Tiger Treasures collects and sells items donated by students leaving Greek Life and Residential Life housing for the summer, according to its [website]( http://sustainability.missouri.edu/tigertreasures/index.html). Tiger Treasures will be selling this year’s donations June 2 on Faurot Field.
The event is good for students, human service agencies, the environment and bargain shoppers, MU Sustainability Coordinator Steve Burdic said. This year’s proceeds will go to the University YMCA and the Salvation Army.
“That’s a lot of good things,” he said. “That’s a win-win-win-win-win kind of deal.”
Burdic said Tiger Treasures will begin taking donations May 4. It provides carts and bags to help students sort out what they want to donate. Afterward, the community takes over the project.
“The students help us collect the stuff, that’s kind of their job,” he said. “They all disappear after school’s over, so then it’s mainly the folks in the agencies and the community that volunteer because there’s quite a bit of work.”
Tiger Treasures usually collects about 20 tons of donations, Burdic said.
Those items are then priced to sell, he said, with $150 refrigerators going for about $30 and designer clothes priced at a dollar or two.
Those deals attract as many as 2,500 people to Faurot Field. The sale starts at 6 a.m. for shoppers willing to pay $5, and is open for everyone from 7 to 11 a.m.
“We actually keep track of people, and they come from a long ways away because they’ve heard about the stuff and they like the bargain stuff,” Burdic said.
The cost of putting on the event is covered by donations and the event’s profits. Last year, the sale’s leftovers were donated to the Joplin community. Usually, they’re given to the Salvation Army.
“There’s not much that’s thrown away,” Burdic said.
Burdic said although the event is hard work, it’s worth the benefits.
“It’s such a happy thing,” he said. “I’m pretty happy just to work and to help make it happen.”