Giving for Gold will focus on four main collection themes: Non-perishable food, clothing and bedding, books, and toiletries.

From Monday 2 March – 17 March, staff and students can drop these items off at any of the 28 donation pods located across campus. You’ll also be able to bring them along on 18 March in Room 1 at the Students’ Union.

This positive action will not only be supporting a range of worthy causes, but it will help to minimise the tonnes of waste generated every year.

Your support will benefit the following charities:

• BACA
• Better World Books
• College Garth Kennels
• Falcon Centre
• Loughborough Town of Sanctuary
• Rainbows Hospice
• The Bridge
• British Heart Foundation

In preparation for donations being accepted from 2 March, the table below provides more detail of what can and can’t be donated:

Item	Can donate	Can’t donate	Special request
Non-perishable food	Tinned, dried foods such as pasta and rice and beans. Food in jars and bottles such as honey and tomato ketchup	Food that needs to be refrigerated or frozen, or those with a sell-by date of less than three months	Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and sugar
Clothing and bedding	Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing	Soiled clothing, used underwear	Hats, scarves and gloves
Books	All fiction (adult and children’s) and any text/reference books	Severely damaged books
Cosmetics, toiletries and sanitary products	Toiletries, cosmetics, sanitary products	Used/open items	Bubble bath, and small/travel-sized items

In line with the upcoming 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, what better way to measure our success than to set ambitious gold, silver and bronze medal targets for items collected. Members of the Loughborough Family can also head down to Room 1 on 18 March to pick up a thank you gift for helping us to achieve these aspiring targets.

More information can be found on the dedicated webpage.