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Last summer the UNH Sustainability Institute partnered with UNH’s Office of Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach to launch the UNH Sustainability Ambassadors program, a community of practice for UNH faculty and staff to network, collaborate, share ideas and resources while making a meaningful difference in communities – and have fun while doing it! 

In the program's first year,

• Over 100 staff and faculty have engaged in the program
• We held events for employees to learn, connect and engage:
  • 4 Lunch & Learn programs that covered the topics of:
    • UNH Basic Needs Initiatives
    • Measuring Sustainability at UNH
    • Health and Well-being at UNH
    • Pollinator Habitats at UNH with guest speakers from Wyman’s

• 4 Engagement Days, ready-made volunteer opportunities with more than 60 volunteers:
  • Two Gather food repurposing events
  • Pollinator garden planting at the UNH President’s house
  • Trash 2 Treasure clothing sort: A small but mighty crew braved the July ‘24 heat to help sort through piles of clothing donated by UNH students. This tremendous effort is part of the UNH Trash 2 Treasure program, which collects donated items from students during spring move-out and sells gently used items in the fall during student move-in. Stained, damaged, or otherwise deemed “unsellable” items were collected and sent to Helpsy, where they will be recycled. 

• 2 Gatherings to promote learning, networking, and engagement
• Ambassadors also designed and developed their own service projects, for example:

Library Ambassadors Hosted a “Sweater Weather” Clothing Swap

In October, Dimond Library staff and Sustainability Ambassadors Wendy Pothier, C.J. Wong, and Sarah Stinson organized a “sweater weather” clothing swap. Over three days, library employees were invited to the staff lounge to swap out clothing and pick up something new (to them). Wendy Pothier, Associate Professor, Business and Economics Librarian, noted that “lots of library workers participated in swapping out seasonal items.” Items remaining from the event were donated to the Echo Thrift Shop in Durham. This was the group's second clothing swap event; the first was held over the summer.

The event was well-received by participants, who shared their enthusiasm with organizers:

“Thank you all for getting me to switch out my shorts and sleeveless dresses for sweaters and boots!”
“Last time I brought in a few things but thought I wasn't likely to find anything to take home.  I was totally wrong! Many thanks to the organizers!”
“It was the most successful shopping trip I've had in ages! So fun!”
“So fun! I got a bunch of new dresses and I love that some of my stuff is getting a new life!”

Career and Professional Success Ambassadors Hosted a Volunteer Beach Cleanup!

In August, the Career and Professional Success (CaPS) office held its second annual beach cleanup in collaboration with the Blue Ocean Society at Odiorne State Park. Jenna Riley, Sustainability Ambassador and Operations Manager of CaPS, reported: 

“Our UNH Team had 11 staff members total and met with a Blue Ocean Society intern for two hours to clean the beach. We collected 389 pieces of debris which totaled 7.85 pounds. This was not nearly as much as last year, since we focused on a different area of the beach that had much smaller pieces of plastic instead of larger fishing debris (traps, ropes, etc.). It was a scorcher of a day, but our group still had a ton of fun and learned a lot about marine debris research and ways we can help support our oceans and marine life!”