Group donates office furniture to area schools

The International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect recently helped out local schools by donating all the office furniture from their space, when they relocated to Denver. ISPCAN contacted SCARCE, the local environmental education center, to help notify underserved schools and manage the pickup.

After a few rounds of e-mails and some coordination, five schools and three school districts were able to benefit from this donation - including East Aurora School District 131, Batavia School District 101, Arbor Park School District 145 in Oak Forest, Northridge Prep in Niles, Mary Lou Cowlishaw Elementary and May Watts Elementary, both in Naperville, Camelot Therapeutic School in Des Plaines and Universal School in Oak Lawn.

Overall, 94 pieces of high-quality office furniture - consisting of desks, filing cabinets, conference tables, office chairs, cubicles, and bookcases - were kept from the landfill and, instead, placed in schools that truly needed this office equipment.

This donation serves as a real example of how SCARCE Rescue Programs work, by diverting critical resources from landfills, and getting them to schools & nonprofit organizations in need. Specifically, the Book Rescue and Tools For Schools Programs operate by receiving gently used books, school supplies and office furniture, and redistributing them to schools throughout Illinois, as well as to global education programs. Since its inception, the Book Rescue Program has diverted over 3.5 million books and 1 million supplies from landfills.

Kay McKeen, founder and executive director of SCARCE, said "we're thankful that ISPCAN, as an organization, decided to do the right thing. We wish more organizations would do the same. In these tough times, it was a huge 'win' for the schools receiving the free furniture and over 90 items, comprised of natural resources, were kept out of the waste stream - that's a total win for the environment."

SCARCE's mission is inspiring people, through education, to preserve and care for the earth's natural resources, while working to build sustainable communities. The SCARCE team educates an average of 10 school and 10 community groups reaching around 300 people in schools, businesses, and community organizations with their award-winning programs every week. SCARCE provides education on all environmental topics including recycling, composting, energy efficiency, water conservation and management, air quality, waste stream auditing, and green audit consulting services. Countywide educational programs are made possible with funding from DuPage County.

SCARCE operates seven "rescue" or landfill diversion programs - Book Rescue, Tools For Schools, Super Crayon Project, Gym Shoe Rescue, Keys For Conservation, Cell Phone Rescue and Inkjet Cartridge Rescue. The Book Rescue and the Tools For Schools Programs divert gently-used books and school supplies from landfills and provides them to schools, organizations and children in need. This year, SCARCE also helped to plan and implement eight Recycling Extravaganza Events throughout DuPage County. For details, visit www.s-c-a-r-c-e.org or call (630) 545-9710.