As an initiative to create awareness surrounding sustainability issues in the fashion industry, McAuley College held its first ‘Rummage Sale’.
This event was run by the College’s Environmental Club, led by Campus Minister, Jess O’Donoghue and teacher Zac Cunningham.
Students were invited to donate clothes they no longer wanted, which were then sold to raise funds for the Club.
Leftover clothes will either be donated to charities or repurposed as bags of rags.
In total, 100 clothing items were sold, and over $100 was raised.
“The money raised will go towards future prospects that the Environmental Club can participate in. At the moment we are dreaming about how we can help more in our community on sustainability” said Mr Cunningham.
“The goal was about changing the conversation surrounding fashion, educating students on where clothes come from and how to stop being consumeristic, to be satisfied with what we have” said Ms O’Donoghue.
“One of the goals of Environmental Club is educating young people at school, so that they can be sustainable in their lives beyond school.”
“We have hopes to repeat this event again, possibly adding a fashion parade. I loved seeing the students try on clothes that they wouldn’t normally wear and just having fun with it.”
Student participant, Lukah Williams, said that changing the conversation and making sustainability relatable is a really big objective of the Enviro Club.
“I think that the Rummage Sale was a big success!” Lukah said.
“We’ve opened conversations around fashion waste and the benefits of op-shopping and sustainability.”
“This has opened the conversation about Enviro Club and what we want to achieve, it’s different from students seeing Jess and I get up at assembly and talk about it; being able to actually implement what we talk about, it’s had a really positive impact.”
Mr Cunningham said they had created something fun and proactive, which adds to the culture of McAuley College and helps staff and students to be more sustainably aware.
“This is definitely something we plan to do again,” Mr Cunningham said.
