First-ever Huntsman Clothes Exchange hosted by the Business Council
The Utah State University Jon M. Huntsman School of Business kicked off this year’s Business Week with an event focused on service, the Huntsman Clothes Exchange, where students could donate gently worn clothing to support those in need.
“We wanted to make sure that we were doing something meaningful and something that made a difference to someone’s life,” said J.J. Watts, the business school senator.
The Business Council was responsible for creating and coordinating the clothing drive. Together with the USU Christensen Office of Service & Sustainability, the council was able to get connected with the William A. Burnard Warming Center.
“We know that the winter months are particularly cold in Logan, and we wanted to partner with a local charity,” said Jason Duersch, director of professional development for the council.
The warming center works on providing overnight assistance to unhoused individuals in Logan during some of the coldest nights of the year by offering shelter, food and clothing.
According to Duersch, the drive was able to collect roughly 25 items of clothing. While he said they were hoping for more donations, they were still grateful for what they were able to collect.
“I’m glad that we were able to connect with W.A.B.,” Watts said. “I’m happy with the way it turned out in that we were able to collaborate with them and that we made something happen.”
The clothing drop off box stayed open at Huntsman Hall for students and staff to continue donating throughout the rest of the week.
“It taught us we need to do better outreach for the event and maybe do a service project where more people can participate,” Watts said.
Watts and Duersch said the business school hopes to incorporate more service into their events in the future.
“Part of our committee’s description and one of our goals that we made at the beginning of the year was to have one service project for the business school and for Utah State in general per semester,” Duersch said.
According to Duersch, the council decided not to count the clothing drive for this semester’s service project in order to host another one before the year ends.
“I think serving is a really meaningful way to give back to a community because you’re looking outside of yourself and your current circumstances,” Watts said. “I find that when I serve people, I don’t worry about myself as much. I’m thinking about ‘How can I benefit this other person?’”
Duersch said service is one of the most important things students, staff and community members in Logan can be doing.
“At Utah State, we’re a lot of fortunate students. We’re going to a great university and getting a great education,” Duersch said. “There are a lot of people that need help in the community, and if we can do that, that’s incredible.”
According to Duersch, while USU hosts a variety of events for students that are fun and engaging, service focused events on campus aren’t as frequent, and that was something they wanted to emphasize during Business Week.
“We have plenty of fun events which are great and add a lot of meaning too, but I think events where we can sit down and think about who is in need and how can we address that is important,” Watts said. “I think we should all try to look outside of ourselves and do more events like that.”