Lyle Anibal lost count of how many couches, coffee tables and televisions he collected this month from Elon University seniors emptying their off-campus apartments as they prepared to graduate. The Elon Police Department lieutenant, however, is quick to note that town officers responded in May to fewer citizen complaints of “Dumpster diving” than in previous years – and that business is up for a local nonprofit shop where the sale of donated furniture funds housing for those in need.
With assistance from fellow officers, Anibal led recent town efforts to gather the household furnishings many students would have otherwise tossed out while moving out. Unbeknown to the lieutenant, his work paralleled a similar “Don’t Trash It!” program established by the university’s Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and the Office of Sustainability.
Now that organizers for both initiatives are aware each other exists, planning is underway for a cooperative effort in 2012 to grow the burgeoning program that supplies Habitat for Humanity of Alamance County’s Re-Store shop with merchandise.
“If nothing else, it has the Elon Police Department working with the university on a project to better the community,” said Elon University associate chaplain Phil Smith, the staff member responsible for starting “Don’t Trash It!” in 2009. “This was a ‘win-win-win’ project. People could get rid of unwanted items. Those items didn’t go in a landfill. The end result is it helps build a house for someone who needs one in Alamance County.”
What Smith didn’t have for “Don’t Trash It!” was a vehicle to help students move the furniture they wanted to give away. Habitat parked its empty trucks in the lot of Elon Community Church, but without flatbeds or vans large enough to move those La-Z-Boy recliners and large-screen televisions, nearby trash bins were the easiest solution for students cleaning house.
The town police program is a boon for the town, too. “Everybody knows that when college kids leave, they throw everything away,” Anibal said this week, leaning forward on his office desk inside the Elon Municipal Building. “We get all kinds of complaints from apartment managers and property owners about the Dumpsters being torn up.”
Anibal was already familiar with the number of students who sell furniture and other possessions on E-net, the university’s news website. The 15-year police veteran and U.S. Naval reservist previously purchased a television for his son to play video games, and a graphing calculator for his teenage daughter to use in math class. A few weeks ago, while showing the Want Ads of the website to a friend, Anibal considered how easy it would be to furnish an apartment for less than $500.
He then recalled that Habitat raised money for its housing project by selling donated items at the Re-Store on North Church Street in Burlington. Using a Ford F-150 the police department purchased in 2007 through drug seizures, he visited every apartment complex in the town to tape flyers to the waste bins.
A half dozen couches, plenty of televisions, a barrage of end tables and lamps. Anibal couldn’t believe the outpouring of contributions to his project, which had the full support of his chief. “Kids have smaller cars and can’t just pick up their couch to drive to Habitat,” he said. “Instead of throwing something away, they would much rather donate to an organization.”
The number of complaints to the police department also dropped, he said. There were sporadic reports of scavengers ripping open garbage bags and littering parking lots, notably in the Sheridan and in Evellien off-campus complexes. Compared to previous years? Well, there was no comparison.
“We’re here not only to enforce the laws of the community, but to help the community,” said Anibal, the officer responsible for maintaining all aspects of Elon Police Department technology, from desktop software to servers to cruiser equipment. “And Elon students are part of our community. It’s not an ‘us versus them’ issue. It’s just ‘us.’”
Habitat for Humanity of Alamance County, which is planning a special June sales event featuring the items from Elon, lauded the university and the police for their efforts.
“What they both do is above and beyond their duties, but they do it anyway,” said Re-Store director Paul Hodges. “They’re doing it to help students. They’re doing it to help the campus itself. On our side, they’re helping a very worthwhile cause.”