Cleaning out your closet and looking to donate clothes this spring? Look no further than the Washington Township High School 5th Quarter Club’s third annual clothing drive. On May 18 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the 9/10 parking lot at the high school, residents are invited to donate clothes to benefit the football team.
The clothing drive is done in partnership with Philadelphia-based company Bargain Thrift. Once the drive is over, a representative from Bargain Thrift will come out, weigh the items and pay for the gently worn items by the pound.
“It’s a way for people to clean out their closet and donate to the football program,” head football coach Mike Schatzman said. “We exchange it for cash in return. It’s beneficial for people in the community and us.”
Acceptable items to donate are clothing and shoes for men, women, children, infants, pocketbooks, purses, totes, school bags, backpacks, wallets, belts, ties, scarves, hats and gloves. Household items like blankets, bedspreads, comforters, quilts, sheets, towels, shower curtains, window curtains, table cloths and pillows are also accepted. Stuffed animals, dolls, books and board games will be accepted as well.
Unacceptable items are pieces of furniture, mattresses, electronics, appliances, cookware, kitchenware, damaged books and vinyl records.
Donated items are to be tied in plastic bags or sealed in cardboard boxes.
The 5th Quarter Club was founded in 1992 when a player named Chris Marcucci passed in an accident. The head coach at the time, Tom Brown, and his wife Marion, started the booster club to start a scholarship in his name.
“She turned it into, in my opinion, one of the best booster clubs in any sport around. What we accomplished in the last 30 years is kind of amazing,” Schatzman said.
The booster club’s main purpose now is to help fund the football team.
“Football’s an expensive sport,” Schatzman said. “It provides an opportunity for us to fund the program the way we want to do it.”
The club is an integral part of the football family. It provides the team with uniforms, banquets, senior gifts and on-field equipment. Schatzman said the club funded the entire weight room in the 11/12 building, including the racks, weights and dumbbells.
For this fundraiser, the football team will be in attendance helping collect the items. Schatzman said the team will unload cars in an effort to bring the community and football team closer together.
“All of it benefits the kids in the long run. We try to get them involved as much as possible,” he said.
For more information on the 5th Quarter Club, visit its Facebook page “TWP Minutemen Football 5th Quarter Club.”
