New and used art, furniture, clothes and other miscellaneous items will be scattered outside of the Chiles Center. On Friday, April 20, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the University of Portland’s first Pilot Market, Students can pay a visit to the booths of Guilder Cafe, Branching Threads, Imperfect Produce and College Ecology Club while meandering through the market. KDUP College Radio will be managing the DJ booth during the event.
The first ever Pilot Market was organized by leaders of the ASUP Sustainability Committee in celebration of Earth Day.
Senior Marie Jobes, Project Manager for College Ecology Club and organizer of Fix It Up events, explains that she is looking forward to the event, and that many people have helped organize the event.
“It’s all coming together this week,” said Jobes. “It seems like a lot of different parts of campus are coming together to be a part of that.”
As the school year comes to a close, the College Ecology Club is attempting to get more people to return their used ecotainers so that the system continues to function properly. Jobes explained that students can bring their used ecotainers and exchange them for a carabiner at the Pilot Market.
She explained that holding onto them defeats the purpose of the system and makes it difficult to always have a ready supply.
“So we’ll have carabiners to exchange if people just happen to have them on them or have a lot and are ashamed to bring them into the Commons,” said Jobes.
According to Jobes, the College Ecology Club booth with also be giving away stainless steel straws to those who share why they care about the Earth and what is important about Earth day.
Jobes shared exciting news about Bon Appetit’s move toward sustainability.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard yet, I don’t know if this has been publicly announced, but the Commons is switching over to paper straws,” Jobes said.
On Thursday, April 19 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the day prior to the market, will be the last Fixit UP event of the year. Students can also turn in ecotainers here. Fixit UP is an idea originally founded on campus by Jobes, that will be continued into the next academic year by the College Ecology Club.
“I’m really excited that it’s going to keep going because there’s been a lot of effort put into it, so it’s nice to see somebody carry the torch,” Jobes said.
Fixit UP has approximately 30 experienced volunteers in Franz 120 ready to assist students and reduce waste. They will be offering knife sharpening, bike tune-ups, clothing mending, small appliance and jewelry repair and software tech help.
