As part of the National Park Service Fall Sustainability Fair, Delaware North’s team at the Grand Canyon recently partnered with the NPS “Green Team” to put on the park’s first ever Fix-it Clinic and Drop-N-Swap event for the local community.
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During the Fix-it Clinic, local residents could bring in broken items and a volunteer team of “fixers” would attempt to repair them, free of charge. During the event, 250.5 pounds of items that were brought in by the community – including bikes, vacuums, cuckoo clocks and a laundry basket – were repaired by eight volunteer fixers with skills in sewing, vacuum repair, electrical, bike repair, carpentry, small motors and general maintenance. Five of those “fixers” were Delaware North associates, and the repair rate was 100 percent.
The Drop-N-Swap was similar to a free community yard sale. Local residents from Grand Canyon could bring in items for donation that they no longer wanted, and others could come and take home items they could use.
During the Drop-N-Swap, nearly 1,500 pounds of donations were collected and about one-third of it was taken home by attendees for reuse. Popular items included microwaves, mini fridges, bikes, dishes, women’s clothing and kitchen appliances. The remaining items were donated to the Grand Canyon High School girls basketball team for a rummage sale fundraiser they were hosting the following weekend. The Drop-N-Swap event provided an opportunity for items to help the local community, instead of
being taken to Flagstaff for donation.
In addition to volunteers, Delaware North provided items that associates had left behind in employee housing and retail fixtures that were no longer being used.
The goal of both events was to help the community reuse items rather than send them to the landfill. Reuse and repurposing is also a significant aspect of a Zero Waste program, which Delaware North’s team at the Grand Canyon aims to achieve by 2020.