Volunteer with EthiCAL: A Look Back
What a semester for Spring 2024! We at EthiCAL Apparel accomplished a lot of activities and milestones in all our departments over the past several months. Within our Social Good Department, we maintain EthiCAL’s sustainability initiatives, and we do this through managing our donation partnership, collaborating with other sustainability businesses through product sponsorships, organizing volunteer events, leading lectures and presentations within the club, and researching our manufacturers. In past semesters, we have participated in the Berkeley Project, a community service organization on the UC Berkeley campus, presented lectures on sustainability to the local community through public libraries and schools, among other initiatives.
In celebration of Earth Day that recently passed on April 22nd and as we close out this semester, let’s take a short and sweet look back at some of EthiCAL’s volunteer work for Spring 2024:
Bambino Thrift Shop Pop-Up
In collaboration with our semester partner, EthiCAL held a pop-up on-site at Bambino. Our members represented our social enterprise over the weekend and tabled a selection of our products. We had the opportunity to display our products, draw new audiences to Bambino Thrift and to EthiCAL Apparel, and spend a day with the volunteers of Bambino on beautiful College Avenue.
Berkley-Maynard Workshop
Our members visited Berkley-Maynard Academy for a workshop with one of the classes. During our time, we gave a short presentation on fast fashion to the students, followed by a sewing workshop using clothes and fabric donated to us by Bambino! The day was incredibly enriching for the students, who were introduced to the various impacts of the fast fashion industry, the importance of conscious consumption, and getting to flex their creativity with their sewing project. It was also a meaningful day for us as we had the opportunity to connect with the people and children in our local community outside of the university.
Strawberry Creek Clean Up
Most recently, EthiCAL spent a day cleaning up trash around Strawberry Creek and the UC Berkeley campus. Littering is quite common around the area, and we wanted to make an effort on our part to contribute towards cleaning up the waste and reducing pollution in the natural areas around our campus. It is important to us to keep UC Berkeley clean and fulfill our mission of creating a greener campus. This event was graciously sponsored by Boichik Bagels, a Bay Area bagel company, who donated bagels for our volunteers to enjoy as they worked.
Outside of these two events, EthiCAL Apparel has participated in and organized many events during the semester, such as our various sales events throughout the holidays and seasons and our regular product drops of sustainable apparel. In doing so, we hope to create an impact in our local community through our projects. We gradually accomplish our mission in working towards a healthier, more equitable, and conscientious future. Through these small acts, we build towards bigger impacts, and we cannot wait to see what the next semester has in store!
