Students give the gift of the GAB

A new scheme aims to collect up the mountain of good-quality items left behind every year by students - from toasters and tinned food to garden tools, furniture and sports equipment - and re-distribute them back into the Lenton community.

The University and the Lenton Centre are getting together with Nottingham City Council's Street Scene team to gather up items in good working order that students can't fit into the car when they leave at the end of the summer term.

Street collections are being organised to encourage students to take part in the first ever 'Gift of the G.A.B' event - when they will be asked to 'Grab A Bag' and fill it with items that can be redistributed to residents in the Lenton community. Young volunteers from the Lenton Centre's Activ8 Uth Project will be delivering empty Gift Bags and leaflets to addresses all over Lenton, urging students to get involved.

In the week before the event, the Street Scene team will be collecting those Gift bags from student households for staff and volunteers at The Lenton Centre to organise for the big day.

On Saturday, June 14, the Lenton Centre will open its doors from 11am-2pm for local residents and charities to come and grab a bag of goodies - from tinned soup to CD shelves, and bathroom cleaner to Christmas lights, which are just some of the things that have been thrown away in previous years.

This is an excellent project where all the community, university students, young people and the elderly can all benefit

Melanie Futer
Manager off-Campus Student Affairs for The University of Nottingham

Nicci Robinson, Project Manager for the Children's and Young People's Team at the Lenton Centre, said: "At the end of each academic year, thousands of students leave the area for the summer. With them, they take their laptops, books and many good memories of Nottingham - but they leave behind enough food to feed a small nation, enough stationery for a school, and enough furniture to suggest that students alone are the sole supporters of Ikea.

"All this and so much more is discarded in the final week of term. Gift of the G.A.B. aims to change that."

The event is completely free, and food and drink will also be provided.

Melanie Futer, Manager, Off-Campus Student Affairs for The University of Nottingham, said: "This is an excellent project where all the community, university students, young people and the elderly can all benefit.

"Many items which the students leave behind when they have finished their studies here in Nottingham can be recycled, and we are delighted that Street Scene/Nottingham City Council are able to collect the reusable goods. It's another way of showing that - in addition to volunteering for local schools and neighbourhood projects - students can make a really positive contribution to their adopted community."

 

 

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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 70 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THE) World University Rankings.

It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation - School of Pharmacy).

Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.