Pacific University
IN-2: Innovation 2

Gifts for Good (G4G) is a student lead group that began in the fall of 2010. The group brings together staff, faculty, and other students to make crafts from things most people deem worthless or "trash", thus keeping these items out of landfills and preventing the consumption of store-bought gifts that use earth's resources. Supplies for G4G crafts have been donated to the CCE by individuals, as well as collected from the dorm halls; these included corks, scrap paper and fabric, tea and coffee containers, old tapes, magazines, lids, old transparencies used in the classroom, and many others. The first G4G sale, held right before Christmas of 2010, raised $679 which was donated to non-profits that help low-income people in the Forest Grove area. G4G also builds a community by bringing together staff, faculty and students to share ideas and skills first and foremost, but also to teach one another creative sustainability above and beyond recycling in the form of "upcycling". Gifts for Good is about self-empowerment, community, and sustainable living.