New and gently used household items can serve as the foundation for a new home and a new life for some MTSU students in the annual “Great Giveaway.”

International students choose their bicycles in the 2014 Great Giveaway sponsored by MTSU’s Raiders for Christ student organization, 1105 E. Bell St. in Murfreesboro. The 2015 Great Giveaway is slated for 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 22. (Photos courtesy of MTSU Raiders for Christ)

Raiders for Christ, an MTSU student organization, will accept donations of gently used and new furniture and other goods from 8:30 a.m. to midnight through Wednesday, Aug. 19, at its headquarters, 1105 E. Bell St. in Murfreesboro.

The items will be given to MTSU international students from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 22.

“Most of those are new students to MTSU, but some of the international students will come back year after year,” said Sarah Johnson, director of women’s outreach for Raiders for Christ.

Johnson said the group needs such items as couches, tables, chairs, beds, dishes, pots and pans, bicycles, small appliances, sheets and pillowcases, pillows, eating utensils and umbrellas.

Donors are asked not to contribute televisions, computers or any perishable items.

“Almost all of the furniture gets taken, especially the beds,” said Johnson. “Bicycles go really well because most of them don’t have cars or any kind of transportation.”

Some contributors choose to go to discount stores and purchase sponges, mops, brooms, dishwashing liquid, towels and washcloths to donate to take a few housekeeping worries off the students’ checklists.

On Aug. 22, each student who lines up at the RFC office will receive two Post-it notes. They can write their names on the notes and tag two large items that they want while gathering as many small items as they desire. Volunteers with trucks will help the students transport the larger items to their residences.

Many items find their way back to Raiders for Christ for others to use when the international students graduate or return to their home countries.

“The students are really good about donating the items back when they’re finished and they go back home,” said Johnson.

To donate items or for more information, contact Raiders for Christ at 615-896-1529 or email Johnson at sarahfjohnson@yahoo.com.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

International students line up to search for free donated furniture and household goods to outfit their homes away from home in the 2014 Great Giveaway at MTSU’s Raiders for Christ headquarters. The 2015 Great Giveaway is set Aug. 22.