The clothes and book swap created by The Love Movement took all the clothes and books left over and donated them to Martha’s Table in Washington, D.C. Photos by Dylan Moroses.
Dylan Moroses
Reporter
Tis’ the season of giving, and students at the University of Maryland are in the holiday spirits.
The Love Movement at the University of Maryland sponsored a clothes and book swap on Nov. 30 for students to trade their belongings for another’s, and to donate to a local charity in Washington, D.C.
The Love Movement is “a cross between a community service club, a social action club and a party,” according to Robert Lanar, the group’s secretary. Lanar is responsible for most of the bureaucratic work such as taking notes at meetings and organizing email lists.
“I’m really happy with the way [the clothes and book swap] has turned out,” he said. “We were planning to incorporate organizations and people off-campus, but I’m happy we decided to do the event on campus. To have the event as more of a off-campus venture would have been very bold.”
Aaron Revere, the treasurer of The Love Movement, greeted people at the door with a looping playlist of heartwarming and inspirational music from John Lennon and others.
“This event is reducing waste,” Revere said. “People can get rid of their old clothes, people can get something new. And whatever doesn’t get picked up today we’re donating to Martha’s Table in D.C.”
The main goal of The Love Movement is to try to make community service fun for everyone through events such as the clothes and book swap.
“We try to organize large scale events on campus and appeal to as many people as possible,” he said. “We also try and do fun things and give people a sense of community on-campus like this.”
Junior Rabee Haq attended the event to donate clothes, and enjoyed the atmosphere The Love Movement brought to the Prince George’s Room in Stamp.
“It’s an awesome event and The Love Movement is such a great, positive group on campus,” Haq said. “I donated some old designer clothes I had and I might pick up one thing just to remember the event by.”
Revere was surprised by the amount of donations received and that there were no textbooks donated by students.
“I honestly did not think we were going to get this many donations,” he said. “We offered to pick up clothes and books from people’s dorms and apartments. Most of the books are novels, young adult fiction, memoirs and a few science books. We actually got no textbooks at all.”
Yoogin Park, a freshman member of The Love Movement, was attracted to the club because of the wide range of issues they explore and the different types of events they host.
“I saw The Love Movement at the First Look Fair and I wanted to join a club that did a whole bunch of things,” he said. “They focus on a variety of social issues rather than just one thing, and thats why I like being part of it. Plus, it’s a cute name.”
