Brady Vinlove / The Mossy Log
The Center for Social Change and Community Involvement (CSCCI) held its community clothing swap and drive in support of immigrants and refugees for the second year on Tuesday, Sept. 22 and Wednesday, Sept. 23. Students and community members brought their clothes to donate and trade, filling up six tables in the South Chapel on the graduate campus. Clothes that were not picked up are donated to local aid organizations. Last year, extra clothes from the drive were donated to Friends of Seasonal and Service Workers (FSSW), an organization that provides mutual aid such as clothing, food and resource access to seasonal laborers across the West Coast. This year, the extra clothes will be given to FSSW or the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), a Portland organization that works with asylum seekers and a range of immigrant groups by providing material support, language services and more. The event was directed by Jorge Orozco-Roller ’27, the graduate assistant and program coordinator for CSCCI.
“IRCO has these shopping experiences that provide community members the opportunity to come in, get clothing, get supplies and not have to pay an arm and a leg,” Orozco-Roller said. “We took the knowledge of what these orgs need through having partnered with them in the past, learning their stories and how they are embedded into their communities. Then we took our student interest and were like, ‘This is the perfect chance to take clothes that were already going to Goodwill and actually give them to a place that is going to do really good stuff with them.’”
The event — which was first held last semester — was borne out of graduate students’ interest in hosting a clothing swap.
“How do I take that dream and help channel it to do good things on top of fulfilling the community’s interest?” Orozco-Roller said. “It was born from people wanting to do it and our organization here on campus realizing that people need clothes, supplies and gear.”
In the past, CSCCI has worked with FSSW and IRCO in canvassing efforts, gala support, tabling, providing educational resources and food drives. Orozco-Roller said he hopes to connect Lewis & Clark students with meaningful opportunities where they can make a difference.
Orozco-Roller emphasized students’ involvement in the event, noting that this year there were four to five times as many volunteers as last year.
“Last year, we only did this drive for one day, and we did not have that much participation, but the donations just poured in from grad students, undergrads and law students,” Orozco-Roller said. “This year, it has been a little bit calmer. I think we would like to ramp up more hype for the next round. But even as calm as it has been, with around 85 visitors, there is still a lot of clothing, and that is really the goal, to just accumulate these resources and redistribute.”
CSCCI is hoping to make this an annual or semesterly event, accumulating clothes to disperse not only through the community but also to organizations that will bring them to people in need.
Clothes of all types and sizes were accepted, including children’s clothes and formal wear, but Orozco-Roller emphasized the need for workwear.
“Clothing that keeps you warm, keeps you protected from the sun, good shoes, good boots, strong pants, that kind of thing, those are the gold ticket items,” Orozco-Roller said.
Orozco-Roller emphasized the interpersonal and career benefits of volunteering through CSCCI and being involved with the Portland community.
“You’re working on that cultural humility and competency that’s really valuable, not only to yourself and your growth, but also employers,” Orozco-Roller said. “This kind of thing ties so well into so many of the degrees here. When you leave college, you are one of a million people with that piece of paper, and what I always ask people is: What are you doing to be different from the other million?”
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