U. Iowa junior Ivanna Zakhour energetically drew up makeshift red price tags — $1, $5, $10, and $20 — for donated household items at Rummage in the Ramp’s first sales on Sunday.
Zakhour is a member of the Association of Latinos Moving Ahead, a UI student organization in its second year volunteering at the sale.
The “giant garage sale” is a city-sponsored initiative — in its fourth year — that aims to keep usable, but no longer needed, items out of Iowa City’s landfill and put back into homes.
Local nonprofit organizations and several UI student groups are working in four-hour time slots, helping in whatever ways necessary throughout the week. Each group will receive financial benefits when the event concludes.
“Depending on what we make, they split all the proceeds with all the organizations and [Association of Latinos Moving Ahead] uses that for programming to fund our events,” UI senior and group member Rocio Rivera said during her shift on Sunday. “We are a cultural group, so we try to promote cultural diversity during our events.”
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Last year, the 22 participating nonprofit groups received $575 for their four hours of work. The sale took in just under $14,000, said Jennifer Jordan, the city’s recycling coordinator.
She plans for more of the same this year.
Other student groups involved include the UI Environmental Coalition, Engineers for a Sustainable World, and the Urban and Regional Planning Student Association.
In addition to benefiting those involved, students who experience a lease gap may also find the rummage helpful.
“If you leave your stuff in the Dumpster, then next year, it can potentially raise the rent for new students moving in, because getting rid of trash is really expensive for landlords,” Jordan said in her office next to the Iowa City landfill.
While few students attended the rummage’s first event in 2007, officials have raised awareness among the UI population.
“We’ve really increased our outreach in student areas and have worked with the UI for our advertising, and we’re able to get the word out that way,” Jordan said.
Iowa City resident Rhonda Holeton came to check out the items on Sunday.
“Instead of going to the landfill, we can recycle,” she said as she sifted through donated items.
And those unable to drop-off items at the rummage location can now still contribute through a new program implemented this year called roaming rummage, in which residents bring items to a West Side location to be transported downtown by volunteers, Jordan said.
As Rummage in the Ramp continues to grow, the philosophy behind it remains the same — keep the Dumpsters empty during the lease-changeover period and the landfill free of usable items.
Rummage in the Ramp will continue daily until Aug. 2 from noon to 8 p.m. (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday) in the Chauncey Swan parking ramp.
“It helps everyone,” said Rebecca Raab, a UI graduate student interning with Iowa City Neighborhood Services, after dragging a newly priced chair to the furniture section. “I know a lot of members of the community appreciate not having a load of garbage at the end of July, and that’s the best part.”