Students packed in Tykeson Hall on Thursday, picking from several items of clothing at the Professional Clothing Drive led by University of Oregon sophomore Zaida Hatfield. For her, the process was very rewarding, but took a lot of effort to get the details together.
“People are really excited about it. This just started before winter break, and since then, we’ve gotten marketing underway,” said Hatfield. “We had bins set up around campus.”
Hatfield opened the Free Store at the Student Sustainability Center last year, which offers all kinds of free items, and decided to create an opportunity for students in professional clothing specifically. She originally got the inspiration for the drive from the annual Washington-Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference.
“At WOHESC last year, Willamette University had a program that offered food, clothing, and other items for students. I’ve envisioned making the SSC a hub for all of that,” Hatfield said. “The goal of the drive is to get a bunch of nice clothing, and then offer it back out through different pop up events. We want students to go to their interviews feeling confident and not have to go spend money.”
There were donation bins set up all around campus, located at the SSC in the EMU, University Career Center in Tykeson Hall, the Office of the Dean of Students, Allen Hall, the HEDCO lobby, the Knight Law Center, Lillis Hall and the Ford Alumni Center.
Taylor McHolm, Hatfield’s supervisor, said that the drive has gotten staff and faculty around campus excited for the future of the SSC.
“It’s been great to see how engaged folks are for ensuring that our students can take the next step beyond the university,” said McHolm. “One of the primary focuses of the Student Sustainability Center is ensuring that students have their basic needs met so that they can make good on their education and be leaders in the world. Hopefully this project gives students a boost in that direction.”
Donations were collected from Jan. 21-30 and the first professional clothing drive was held on Thursday, Feb. 13.
“It was amazing to have an idea, make a plan, put in the work to execute it, and watch it unfold,” she said. “A lot of the work I do is behind the scenes, so it’s really nice to see it live in action, clearly making a difference in peoples’ lives.”
Hatfield has a lot of ideas for the future of the drive. This event is the first of its kind at the UO, and she hopes to include the UO graduate school to open availability up even further.
“It’s definitely really new, so we’re seeing where we can take this and getting people involved,” she said. “Nothing is set in stone yet.”
But for now, Hatfield is proud of her ability to conceive of an event that will have a positive impact on the environment and for students in need. She said that she hopes students around campus will continue to be involved by donating more items to the Student Sustainability Center.
“The theme of the professional clothing drive is eliminating the need to spend money to make money. It works like that, but as students it shouldn’t have to,” Hatfield said. “I just want to be a student resource that people can come to. It’s important to break human barriers of stigmas, insecurities or feeling uncomfortable reaching out or needing help.”
