For ORL, which picked up the bins each day during the final days of Spring term, the project meant the office would no longer have to deal with fees associated with disposing of all the clothes left behind by Dartmouth students. Daily pickup of donations ensured that students could not rifle through and damage the items.
Wilson said she stumbled upon the idea when she was moving out freshman spring; "aghast" at the waste, she decided to put out collection bins in each dorm at the end of Spring term.
In its first year the project shipped 36 boxes filled with everything from shirts to shampoo to Iraq. The group took advantage of a special mailing rate that allowed them to send an unlimited number of boxes to a soldier in Iraq for just $30.00 a box.
Wilson and other volunteers raised the money for the shipping fees through various fund-raisers around campus during each of the Spring terms. In particular she enlisted the help of her sorority sisters at Epsilon Kappa Theta.
"Fundraising has been pretty easy for us; people like to help the cause and drunk people like to buy pizza on frat row," Wilson '07 said.
While anything can be placed in boxes, extensive sorting is necessary to make sure nothing sent is culturally insensitive. For example, anything risque or displaying an American emblem is removed and sent to charities in the Upper Valley area.
"We don't want to insult them or make them targets of anti-U.S. sentiment," Wilson said. "High heels are nice, but they can't be used in Baghdad."
Wilson, whose fianc recently returned from Iraq, heard firsthand about the impact the donations from Dartmouth had in Iraq.
"When you help the people in the neighborhoods you're patrolling, they're less likely to shoot you and more likely to provide helpful information," Wilson said.
In the project's second year, the group hit the one-ton milestone of items shipped, almost doubling the number of boxes sent from the first year.
One of ORL's stipulations, however, is that all the collected items would have to sit untouched for several weeks to give students who may have accidentally donated a wallet or another item of value to come back and claim it.
This past spring, Topliff Hall -- due to its high concentration of departing seniors -- donated the most items while Mid-Massachusetts Hall saw the fewest donations.
In addition to clothing collected in the dorms, items were collected from the Dartmouth College Child Care Center. Children's clothing, toddler toys, and other necessary items just poured in, Wilson said.
The sorting of this past spring's donations is underway and is headed up by Sam Kennedy '09.
Kennedy got involved with the project after hearing about it from the Philanthropy chair of his fraternity, Kappa Kappa Kappa.
"He said it was one of the most rewarding things he did during his sophomore summer," Kennedy said. "I've seen several pictures from Iraq of the kids holding some of the stuff they sent down last year. It's a project with a very tangible impact."
Initial estimates suggest that the group is on track to double or even triple the amount donated in years past. ORL reported an estimated five tons of clothing collected.
"It's been rewarding on every level seeing the Dartmouth community's response to the cause," Wilson said. "Many professors and departments even donated money from their discretionary funds or from their individual pockets."
Wilson said that the success of the project has depended on the generosity of the students, faculty, and community members who -- despite disagreements about the future of Iraq -- have united around one common goal.
"Obviously it's not a politically motivated project, we just want to help people," Wilson said.
