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‘Dump & Run’ Prep: Four Months, 3,000 Hours, and 10,000 Items

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It takes a village—or more like an army—to coordinate the Big Red’s massive annual sale of student-donated goods

Editor’s note: Check out our previous coverage of Dump & Run’s other half: the sale!

By Melissa Newcomb

In a storefront in the Shops at Ithaca Mall, a volunteer carries a black mini-fridge past a wall of shelves overflowing with rolled-up blankets. He sets it down among the other small refrigerators, which are surrounded by a vast variety of other donated items.

There are racks jam-packed with clothing; bins of water bottles, sports balls, and clothes hangers; furniture, including couches; shelving of various sizes; dozens of floor lamps; stacks of clear plastic storage bins; and much more.

Vacuums hang on a circular rack, teapots, filtered water pitchers, and crockpots fill shelves, and standing lamps are clustered together at the site of where the Dump and Run sale will be in the Ithaca Mall. — Ryan Young / Cornell University

In mid-August, all these items will go on sale at Dump & Run, the annual event offering good-quality used merchandise at major discounts.

And in the lead-up to the sale—which is wildly popular with college students and local residents alike—volunteers spend some 3,000 hours over four months transporting and sorting the tens of thousands of donations.

“I can’t imagine all of this stuff ending up in a landfill, like it would without the sale,” marvels Karen Brown, a senior director in Student & Campus Life, which has been helping coordinate the event since its inception in 2003. “It can still serve so many purposes.”

A volunteer wearing a blue shirt folds blankets to add them to the packed, colorful wall of blankets behind her while preparing for the Dump and Run sale in the Ithaca Mall. — Ryan Young / Cornell University

Held during student Move-In at the start of each fall semester, Dump & Run has been known to draw long lines, as eager shoppers seek deals on everything from clothing (both Cornell-themed and otherwise) to sports and fitness equipment to dorm and home essentials.

The sale—whose proceeds go to local charities—also offers a limited number of high-value items, such as musical instruments, bikes, and designer clothing.

I can’t imagine all of this stuff ending up in a landfill, like it would without the sale.
Karen Brown, senior director, Student & Campus Life

While Dump & Run has previously occupied multiple empty spots in the mall—and prior to that, various places on campus, like Helen Newman Hall—for fall 2025 it has a spacious new home: a storefront that once housed an Old Navy.

And the volunteers have had no problem filling every square inch of it.

Volunteers for the dump and run sale carry mini fridges from storage containers. — Cornell University

Black and gray mini fridges stacked on top of each other with racks of clothing behind the fridges at the site of where the Dump and Run sale will be in the Ithaca Mall. — Ryan Young / Cornell University

“This year is definitely the largest volume of stuff that we’ve ever had,” says Bill Apgar, a project supervisor with the Tompkins County Probation Department and the longtime leader of the sale’s volunteer efforts.

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Apgar is also president of Cops, Kids & Toys, which distributes holiday gifts to families in need, among other philanthropy.

In 2024, Dump & Run gave the charity a whopping $91,000—garnered from 36 box trucks’ worth of donated merchandise.

This year is definitely the largest volume of stuff that we’ve ever had.
Volunteer leader Bill Apgar

So where does all that stuff come from?

Toward the end of the academic year, students receive information (via emails and posters) about Dump & Run and its more than 50 on-campus drop-off spots—encouraging them to donate unwanted possessions as they move out, rather than tossing them in the trash.

Cindy Lockwood, smiles while wearing a red Cornell collared shirt and holds two pom poms she picked up from a table of Cornell stuff for sale at Dump and Run. — Melissa Newcomb / Cornell University

Volunteers from Facilities and Campus Services’ building care department monitor the donation bins, transporting items to the sale site as needed.

In the run-up to Commencement Weekend, the bins fill so quickly that box trucks run on an eight-hour-a-day loop: load up, drive to the mall, unload, drive back, and repeat.

“Some years it’s hot, and some years it’s raining,” says Cindy Lockwood, associate director for building care, “but our team wants to do it.”

Once the donations arrive, volunteers inspect, sort, and price each item.

As little as possible will go to the landfill, as any items left over after the sale closes are offered free to nonprofits.

Past recipients include a Tompkins County homeless shelter (which got enough bedding in 2024 to outfit its entire facility) and the local SPCA.

“Our volunteers want to be a part of this mission, because we know what Dump & Run means to our community,” says Scotti Slocum, a building care manager who helps lead the effort to bring donations to the mall. “Everybody looks forward to it, because it’s a great time for bargains.”

Our volunteers want to be a part of this mission, because we know what Dump & Run means to our community.
Scotti Slocum, building care manager

On a Wednesday in June, Apgar looks around the cavernous store, already filled with thousands of items—with plenty more in the back, waiting to be added to the sales floor.

He rattles off some price estimates: “around $3 for a T-shirt, $8 for a box fan or standing lamp; mini-fridges start at $40; around $5 a blanket.”

Bill Apgar, wearing a green shirt and black hat, talks with a volunteer wearing an orange shirt and blue hat while preparing for the Dump and Run sale at Ithaca mall. — Melissa Newcomb / Cornell University

Once the sale begins, its first few days will be reserved for college students (at Cornell, Ithaca College, and beyond) before opening to the general public.

“It’s a huge benefit to have this sale, when we have students coming from across the country and across continents,” Lockwood observes. “Didn’t bring enough clothes hangers? Here’s a bunch, for a couple dollars.”

Top: A volunteer prices some of the sale's thousands of items. (Ryan Young / Cornell University)

Published July 2, 2025