After months of work, the Emma Green club opened a newly renovated donation room, now sporting the new moniker ‘Willard’s Wardrobe,’ with a well-attended ribbon-cutting ceremony. The launch is one of the latest developments on campus to encourage reuse.
This isn’t the first iteration of a thrift-store-style space on campus. Over the years students have used donation bins in the dorms to drop items they were no longer finding useful throughout the year, or bringing items to a location in Sage basement in the spring when packing up their dorm rooms. Houseparents would often spend time sorting items for community members to browse and take if they needed, or coordinate with outside organizations to find homes for bedding, clothes, and housewares. The task was often overwhelming, and it seemed like there could be a more streamlined way to approach the donation space to fit the needs of the campus community.
“It has been great to see the community's excitement about the project and I am hopeful we will be able to continue to improve the systems to make it more accessible for everyone,” says Esme A.’27, who spearheaded the initiative and has been working to keep things running at the wardrobe.
This fall, the Emma Willard School facilities and housekeeping teams helped refresh the space and get it ready for Emma Green’s vision: with organized areas for categories of items, a changing room, hours of operation, and a system for community members to drop off and pick up items.
“From its beginning in the fall, to its opening in the winter, the donation center has given me more courage as a leader to fight for the earth,” writes club co-head Megan L.’25.
“It has been so amazing to see Esme’s sub-group(the donation center group) transform the Sage basement into an oasis of donated items. While my co-head and I did more of the logistics and less of physically working on the donation center, it is so amazing to see not only our club members’ work but also our months of work to come to fruition in the form of Willard’s Wardrobe.”
The community visits Willard's Wardrobe to shop!
The club worked hard alongside their advisor, French Instructor and Sustainability Task Force Member Manon Sabatier, and other Emma adults to keep the project moving. Brainstorming sessions to rebrand the space, decide how it would function, and to come up with a new name happened throughout the fall, alongside hours of physical work to get the space ready for shoppers.
“It’s going really well!” says Manon Sabatier. “The shop has been open every week, and we have a system where the donations are sorted, and washed, and then they put it out in the shop.”
"Willard’s Wardrobe is my new favorite place on campus thanks to all the incredibly hard work Esme and the Donation Center Revamp team has put into making it run smoothly," writes Emma Green co-head Levi L.A.'25. "I really enjoy volunteering as staff and seeing what treasures people can pull out. I remember working with Esme and Franny to design the action plan for Willard’s Wardrobe at the ADK Youth Climate Summit, and although we really wanted to make the policy 'take what you need leave what you can,' we were worried that we would run into a deficit. Thanks to our amazing community, we can rest assured that the center will continue to have a plethora of clothes. A sincere thank to everyone who’s thoughtfully donated."
Emma Green members and club advisor celebrate the opening!
Students and adults both seem interested in the project, dropping in to check out what’s available and donating items they no longer need.
“It’s really cool that it’s not just the students!” adds Mme Sabatier. “It’s something that spans over the whole community.”
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