Student and staff organizers of Campus Life's Dump and Run program presented $33,500 in donations to five local charitable organizations at a reception at the end of October. The donations were the proceeds from the university's eighth annual Dump and Run sale in August, which this year raised more than $41,000, representing an increase of more than $3,500 since last year.

Nicholas McCormick, student coordinator, presented $11,110 to Cops, Kids and Toys, which provides holiday gifts for children from low-income families; $9,010 to Shelter Outreach Services, which administers low-cost veterinary care at local animal shelters; $5,860 to Loaves and Fishes, which offers free community meals for those in need; $5,020 to Tompkins Learning Partners, which provides free literacy tutoring services to local residents; and $2,500 to United Way of Tompkins County, an organization that connects donors with a network of 43 local charitable agencies.

Percentages of the proceeds donated to each organization were determined by the number of volunteer hours each agency, along with the Tompkins County Probation Department, contributed to the Dump and Run collection, sorting and sale. Of the remaining funds raised, $500 was allocated to the national Dump and Run Inc. organization, and the rest will be invested back into Cornell's Dump and Run program to help support staffing and supplies.

Dump and Run is a waste recovery and recycling program that collects items that students might otherwise throw away when leaving campus each May. Collected items are sorted and organized over the summer, then resold when students return each August. Since Cornell's Dump and Run program began in 2003, the university's program has removed more than 200 tons from the waste stream, contributed more than $188,000 to Ithaca-area nonprofits and donated many tons of reusable goods to local human service agencies.

The spring 2010 Dump and Run collection netted approximately 25 tons of reusable items, including carloads of nonperishable food that were given to the Friendship Network in Ithaca to be distributed to local pantries and charities.