For many exchange students at Temple University, obtaining kitchen appliances can be challenging. The question being “Is it worth it to buy needed appliances and other expensive items if they’ll only be used for the typical stay of an exchange student–a semester or two? Not to mention, what happens to these items after they’re used? Do they go straight to the landfill?”
Olivia Moore, a human resources management and services major from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom witnessed this problem firsthand during her short time at Temple in Spring 2023. Living in the Global Living and Learning Community at Temple Towers, where some exchange students reside, Moore was acutely aware of the problems her peers faced. Her experience spurred her to develop a proposal for an appliance resharing program–Global Share–in one of her business classes at Temple. As someone who loved to cook, who dreamt about opening a food truck, kitchen appliances were particularly important to Moore.
Sadly, Olivia Moore passed away in a car crash in April of 2023 before she could see her proposal carried out. Yet, her idea lives on. In her memory, the Global Programs Office implemented her plan for the first time in Fall 2024.
Following Olivia’s passing, Assistant Vice President of Global Engagement, Martyn Miller, contacted her professor and family, obtained her class kitchen-sharing project and brought it to Global Programs so that it could be implemented for future students.
“It is an honor to have been able to launch this program in Olivia’s memory. I’m looking forward to expanding the project beyond our initial run and am excited to see this live on in Olivia’s memory for years to come.”
– Casey Santos, Global Programs Manager
The next step was collecting donations and items that were otherwise destined for the landfill in Temple Towers. Aside from the collection boxes placed in Temple Towers and the Global Programs offices, Global Programs Manager, Casey Santos also circulated pamphlets to students, emphasizing what items were needed and accepted as donation, primarily kitchen items like Tupperware, Brita filters, and dishes.
At the start, Santos discovered that students were donating all sorts of items, beyond what he originally requested. They were donating items such as lamps and hangers. In response, he expanded the list of suitable donations based on what the students were providing.
In total after the first round of collections, Global Share pulled together eight apartment’s worth of goods, benefiting approximately 45 incoming students.
Most of the items went to students living in Temple Towers. However, students living off campus were also included; Global Programs invited them to come to the international offices and browse the remaining items that didn’t make it to Temple Towers.
The second round of collections this past fall was a bit smaller since most exchange students leave in the spring. But it was a second success.
Currently, though there are no concrete plans to expand the program, Global Programs is interested in eventually rolling out this sharing to the other Global LLC in Morgan Hall.
“It is an honor to have been able to launch this program in Olivia’s memory. I’m looking forward to expanding the project beyond our initial run and am excited to see this live on in Olivia’s memory for years to come,” said Santos.
By Massin Larbi, CLA ’25, Global Engagement writing intern
Photos provided by Global Programs