Food, furniture: Take your pick at Penn

Tis the season locals have termed “Penn Christmas,” when University of Pennsylvania students clear out from dorms for the year, leaving behind electronics, furniture, and other items ripe for the trash-picking.

“There’s a lot: fridges, microwaves, rugs, mirrors,” said move-out coordinator Britney Vazquez, 19.

“I’m throwing out things that aren’t worth keeping or take up a lot of room,” said freshman Yibo Jia, 18, who didn’t want to haul a mattress pad and lamp back home to Arkansas.

PennMOVES employs volunteers to collect many of the discarded items and holds a massive community sale at a University-owned warehouse in Grays Ferry. This year, the organization has partnered with Goodwill Industries, who will help organize the sale and benefit from the proceeds.

“People leave plasmas, clothes and all types of furniture,” said staff member Robert Reyes, 22. “I think a lot of them just want to replace them with newer things.”

Since it was organized by Penn Housing staff in 2008, PennMOVES has collected about 300,000 pounds of refuse ranging from canned food to crutches.