Volunteer with the Office of Sustainability
Temple University was founded on principles of service. Across the university, we strive to honor the spirit of founder Russell Conwell, whose well-known “Acres of Diamonds” speech asserted that we all have a duty to improve our shared communities.
Volunteering with the Office of Sustainability is not only a great way for you to get to know your neighbors and community partners, but also to apply your skills, deepen your understanding of sustainability, and serve the greater community in a meaningful way.
From helping to sort food and sell clothing collected during move-out, to removing invasive species, to participating in a city-wide clean-up, these activities offer a chance to solve real-world sustainability problems alongside neighbors and friends and help build a just climate future for North Philly.
Give + Go Green
Give + Go Green is an annual event where students donate food and clothing that they do not wish to take with them when they move out of the residence halls in May. Each year, collection boxes are placed in the lobbies of residence halls so that students can easily donate items they would otherwise throw in the trash. Check out our Donation Resource Guide to find out more about what to donate.
Volunteers are needed every May to help sort the donated items. Calls for volunteers are made every April.
Temple Thrift
Every fall the Office of Sustainability hosts thrift sales to promote reuse and raise awareness about textile waste. All clothing sold at Temple Thrift is donated by students during Give + Go Green at the end of the spring semester. Most of the items are under $3 and nothing is more than $10.
Additionally, this event supports Temple's Climate Action Plan goal to address food insecurity on campus. Proceeds raised from Temple Thrift sales go directly to The Barnett & Irvine Cherry Pantry.
We depend on volunteers like you to make our pop-up thrift events a success.
We open volunteer sign-ups in August every year.
Off-Campus Cleanups
The Office of Sustainability hosts several stewardship events each academic year to give students opportunities to foster relationships, model sustainable leadership and make our neighborhoods, public spaces, natural lands cleaner, healthier and happier places.
It is Temple’s hope and priority that students feel integrated into the rich fabric of the diverse North Philadelphia community and make a positive contribution to it as responsible stewards and good neighbors. For more on the Good Neighbor Initiative, click here.
Love Your Park Fall Service Day | November
The Office of Sustainability coordinates groups of students to participate in Love Your Park every November. Love Your Park - a collaboration between Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and Philadelphia's Park Friends Network - works to support communities in activating Philadelphia’s parks and other natural areas. For Fall Service Day, Temple students join Park Friends groups near campus to clean, green, and celebrate our favorite Philly parks by collecting leaves for compost, planting trees and flower bulbs, and cleaning up after a very busy summer.
Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Partnership | World Water Day in March
To celebrate World Water Week, Temple's Office of Sustainability partners with Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Inc to improve the health and vitality of our watershed by picking up litter, removing debris, and weeding invasive species in an early spring clean-up around World Water Day on March 22.
Philly Spring Cleanup | April
Philly Spring Cleanup is the largest citywide cleanup of the year sponsored by the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Streets. Every April, thousands of volunteers take part, cleaning their neighborhoods and parks in over 300 different projects all over the city. Grab a broom and join your fellow Temple Owls on a block near you!
