On Saturday, October 1, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the Cherry Hill High School East Habitat for Humanity Club hosted its first Stuff-A-Truck of the 2016-2017 school year. During the event, club members collected various household items from donors to send to the local Burlington County ReStore. Once all donations were collected, the truck was filled with a variety of items from toys and blankets to televisions and bookcases.

There was a large sign out on the street to draw attention to the cause. Ten percent of the club’s members volunteered at the event. Volunteers were assigned different tasks, such as keeping track of donations, distributing paperwork and transporting items from the donors’ cars into the truck. Donors were pulling into the East parking lot all the way until the end of the event at 3 p.m.

“The truck was pretty well stuffed by the end,” said Ms. Nora Smaldore, advisor for the East Habitat for Humanity Club.

The truck to hold the donations was donated by ReStore. The ReStore is very similar to a department store; however, because items are donated, the prices of the goods being offered are extremely low. All monetary proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity to offset the costs of its building projects. Members who are not old enough to participate in building projects can volunteer to help at the local ReStore since the store plays a large role in making building projects possible.

Students who are part of the club give up some of their free time to aid their surrounding community members.

“I really enjoy helping others and getting involved in a volunteering community,” said Nicole Perez (‘17), secretary of the club.

Habitat for Humanity plans to hold another Stuff-A-Truck event in the spring. Stuff-A-Truck is an efficient way of gathering useful items for Habitat for Humanity building projects, and a continuation of this donations drive will be beneficial to the Burlington County ReStore as well.

Not only are donations received from events like Stuff-A-Truck, but ReStores also take donations from home improvement giants such as Loew’s and Home Depot, and accept extra goods from local contractors. The Burlington County ReStore recently increased in size to accommodate for larger stock.