The environment wasn't the only beneficiary at Project Pride, an event aimed at helping East Lansing residents recycle and reuse.
Local charities accepted much-needed donations such as bikes, household appliances and clothing for a variety of causes. Project Pride, now in its 14th year, also accepted items the city usually doesn't recycle such as scrap metal, tires and corrugated cardboard.
Share-a-Bike was one local charity accepting donations at the event. The organization has been participating in Project Pride for seven or eight years, said Mike Egan, president of the project.
"We take donated bikes from the community and fix them up. Then we donate them back to the community," Egan said.
The increase in gas prices has led to a higher demand for bicycles as a mode of transportation, he said. The organization donates bikes to students and East Lansing residents alike.
Volunteers for Share-a-Bike perform all repairs on the donated bikes themselves.
"A big share of us are bike riders," said Egan. "Our skills are a product of us working on our own stuff."
Most of the repairs they make are small, like changing tires and tubes, and replacing brakes. After the bike is repaired, each is safety-checked before it is re-donated.
St. Vincent Catholic Charities was accepting household items for a refugee services program, which will provide housing for 18 homeless families in the Lansing area in the next month, said Bob Graham of the charity's refugee services department.
The families were selected by a lottery system and the charity, along with the Ingham County tenant-based rental assistance program, will provide them with fully-furnished homes.
The charity was only accepting items like furniture and electronics. It received speakers, food processors and even a bread machine. Some residents donated furniture with the price tags still attached.
Throughout the years, the types of items brought to Project Pride have changed, said Mayor Pro Tem Vic Loomis, who greeted residents as they arrived at the event. The event volunteers see less recyclable material and more reusable household items. Loomis began volunteering at Project Pride seven years ago.
"The volume of recyclable stuff has gone down," he said. "We've gotten a lot of that stuff out of the system."
