The Swap for Good Non-Profit Project
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Santa Clara University's Office of Sustainability

"This drive was designed to collect gear that was no longer being used, and send it to a good place. This way we can reduce, reuse, and recycle our old equipment," said Anders. "We also help the local community who can't afford sports gear for children's programs. Not only does it get the school involved, but helps Santa Clara's out reach in the community. This way the student-athletes and the users of Malley can use their recourses to help a lot of people."

"I would like to thank every one for participating in this drive, where we collected over 274 pounds of equipment (see the list below)," said Anders. "We got had participation from all sports and both gyms, but I would like to put out a special thank you to Bronco men's and women's basketball as well as baseball because they went the extra mile all the way."

Equipment Collected

• 70 basketball (outdoor)
• 14 basketball (indoor)
• 49 jerseys/pennies
• 6 soccer balls
• 12 tennis balls
• 20 cones
• 11 flags
• 16 pairs of shoes
• 3 trash bags FULL of shirts, jerseys, shorts

Weight: 274 pounds!

"Kathryn Hutchings and Janice DeMonsi did a great job of getting the club sports and Malley involved," added Anders. "Over all this was a great group effort and a huge success. It is really great to see such a group effort with both sporting facilities on campus. I hope that for next year, it gets more competitive and more campus-wide.

Most of the gear went to Rocketship School System. Rocketship is the leading public school system for Low-Income Elementary Students- Eliminating the Achievement Gap. Rocketship Education has pioneered the transformative Rocketship Model, which combines teacher development, and individualized learning to improve student achievement. The sports equipment is used during development time, where kids learn the techniques of sports in a team atmosphere. This improves socialization, teamwork, motor skills, and the health of the Rocketeers.

"This donation affects 509 kids at Rocketship Mateo, 430 at Rocketship Mosaic, and 600 at Rocketship Si Se Puede. This means about 1800 kids are being affected by Santa Clara's Donation," said Coach Charlotte, the coach at Rocketship Mateo Sheedy, where the equipment is being used. "Mateo had so many donations; they got to give them to the other schools in the Rocketship School System. During our enrichment program, kids work on developing their social networking skills necessary for outside life. Santa Clara University is saving Rocketship lots of money as well. Six basketballs cost $150. SCU donated over 70. Now we can spend that money on things the kids have never had before, like soccer goal posts, to start our first ever soccer league. Thank you Santa Clara!"

"The (donations) were great, we wish to show you how grateful the kids are for them," said Coach Susie Ramirez (coach at the Mosaic Rocketship school). 
The kids were very aware that Santa Clara University donated them. Thanks to Santa Clara University, we now have nine balls out on the playground at a time instead of 4, which didn't even all bounce. Thank you!"

Another program SCU was involved in was Swap for Good. Swap for Good is a grassroots non-profit project that encourages people across the country to host clothing swaps and ask for donations to raise money for local domestic violence shelters. Santa Clara hopes to expand on the reach of the Swap for Good by serving additional local community organizations that SCU students, staff, and faculty care about, such as supporting literacy and physical education at the Alma Verde After-School Program, keeping feet warm with Project Open Hand, and supporting teenage girls going to prom with the Princess Project.