Faculty, staff, and students are invited to volunteer for PennMOVES, the University’s 5th annual sale of items left behind by students when they leave for the summer.

This year’s PennMOVES sale will be held on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Penn’s South Bank, 3401 Grays Ferry Ave. All items are sold “as is” with no returns accepted. The sale is cash only; no credit or debit cards.

Admission is free, but a $5 donation will get bargain hunters early admittance from 8 to 10 a.m. Parking is free too, and Penn Transit will provide free shuttle service to and from campus.

Volunteers are needed to help with the collection phase, now through Thursday, May 31. Tasks include accepting donations, monitoring donation locations, organizing items in storage, removing unacceptable items, and loading transport vehicles. 

On June 2, volunteers may be asked to help run cash registers, bag purchases at checkout, monitor the checkout line, direct customer traffic, or assist customers with loading items into their vehicles.

To sign up as a volunteer, visit the Business Services Division (BSD) website.

Faculty and staff may also donate items to PennMOVES. Acceptable donations include electronics, clean and dry clothes, towels, sheets, pillowcases and comforters, shoes, boots, jewelry, and accessories. Please keep matching items together.

Also wanted are household items, such as coffeemakers, microwaves, and fans in working order. Office items, storage containers, toys, sports equipment, books, musical instruments, and suitcases are welcome, too.

Unwanted items include anything broken or dirty, cleaning supplies, perishable or non-perishable food, cell phones, compact fluorescent light bulbs or any type of batteries.

Collection locations are located in a number of campus buildings. A list of the locations is available on the BSD website.

Sponsored by the BSD, PennMOVES has collected close to 390,000 pounds of items that would have ended up in landfills since 2008. Last year, PennMOVES raised $25,000 for Goodwill Industries, which provides technical expertise and logistical support for the sale.

This year’s proceeds will benefit Goodwill’s local job-training programs for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.