From collecting dust to collecting donations, old ski equipment is available today for free at the Extreme Ski Swap fundraiser.
The fundraiser, organized by the Black Student Union and NMX Sports, will benefit NMX Sports’ project, Warehouse 508, and help Albuquerque’s youth, said D’Andre Curtis, BSU’s president.
Also an intern at Warehouse 508, Curtis said he saw a pile of old sporting equipment in the warehouse basement and decided to use it to make an event.
“I was just cleaning the cages and happened to have a brilliant idea,” he said. “I mean, why not sell it, get a few shillings, and put it towards something good?”
Curtis said items include a few computer monitors, bicycle rims, inline skates and an outdated iMac. Campus policy states goods cannot be sold on campus without the University’s permission, even if it is through a chartered student organization.
“It’s a ‘give what you can’ kind of thing,” Curtis said. “Come early, there’s some really nice stuff.”
He said Warehouse 508 is a space designed specifically to get youth involved in a variety of activities.
“It’s a youth creativity venue, so they have a recording studio, a Mac lab, but it is basically for youth to do different things that are non-traditional, not necessarily sports,” he said.
Lorin Merkley, employee at NMX Sports, said the sports programs they choose to include are non-traditional.
“So basically anything that doesn’t use a ball,” Merkley said.
“Snowboarding, skiing, that kind of stuff.”
Merkley said the event is unique because the proceeds benefit the community as a whole.
“Most of the other events that campus groups put on go towards the clubs and stuff there at UNM,” he said. “This one’s going towards the youth of Albuquerque who don’t have the money to afford the type of programs we offer.”
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BSU is also leading a food drive that will end Thursday. Other proponents include the American Institute of Architecture Students, Powerful Movement of Educated Sisters and Black Men in Motion. Curtis said event organizers also collaborated with CNM students for the drive.
“I feel this (event) is different because … it’s a collaboration of many different entities trying to do something, rather than just one student organization on campus,” he said.
Curtis said he tries to connect with younger students and members of the broader community through the events he organizes.
“I like networking. I’m at a point, as a senior, that I’m trying to do as much positive stuff, not for myself, but for my campus and my younger colleagues (as I can),” he said. “I feel like you can’t do this without other people; you can’t just do this by yourself It takes a village to raise a child.”
Extreme Ski Swap Fundraiser
Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In front of the SUB
To donate, contact
D’Andre Curtis at
dcurtis1@unm.edu
