Grad Bag Collecting Items to Distribute to College Freshmen

Out with the old, in with the old is the message Grad Bag advocates as it begins its second year. Grad Bag is a green initiative to collect, recycle and redistribute dorm room items that are often thrown away. Grad Bag is poised to gather, clean and package comforters, sheets, towels, lamps, fans and hangers to stock soon-to-be dorm rooms of incoming freshmen who may not have the means to buy them on their own.

Once again, Grad Bag is partnering with Let's Get Ready at their pre-college orientation in August for students who start college in the fall. Let's Get Ready is an organization which harnesses the energy of college student volunteers to act as tutors and role models, providing free SAT prep, college guidance, financial aid workshops, and mentoring for high school students.

Building on the success of Grad Bag's inaugural event in August 2012, Grad Bag is expanding the effort. From a grass-roots collection, Grad Bag is now working with a few colleges that will assist with collecting on-site.

Grad Bag was founded by Scarsdale residents Liz Gruber and Tara Tyberg in 2012. When moving their children out of their college rooms Gruber and Tyberg realized that there were a lot of dorm room items that college kids no longer have use for once they have graduated but are in fine condition. The pair contacted their friends and neighbors-parents of recent college graduates- to gather items that would otherwise be thrown away. At the LGR orientation each student selected items from the Grad Bag collection and left with bags full of gear, ready for college.

The program's recycling efforts equip college freshmen with all the essentials for dorm life that most of their classmates enjoy, allowing them to begin their college experience with confidence. As a green initiative, Grad Bag is looking out for the future of these students and for the future of our planet.

Contact Liz Gruber at liz@gradbag.org or Tara Tyberg at tara@gradbag.org to find out how to donate items or to request a pick up.