Earth Day, celebrated on April 22nd in over 190 countries, is a celebration created in 1970 to support environmental protection and sustainability towards our planet. This one-day celebration has since blossomed into a full month of festivities that feature the many ways to live more sustainably. Since Goodwill highly values sustainability and working towards a healthier future for our planet, we organized two events that honor a more “green” way of living.

From April 1st through 22nd, Goodwill hosted an “Earth Day Donation Drive” were donors at any location could enter to win a $500 prize. To enter, folks simply scanned the QR code on their donation ticket and entered their information in the form that automatically populated. Multiple entries could be received, meaning donors could donate multiple times for a chance to win. Each week leading up to Earth Day, Goodwill announced a new winner to receive $500. Why throw away when you could donate for a chance to win?

The second Earth Month celebration was the Earth Day Fashion Show, which took place at the Goodwill Morrow location. Goodwill partnered with local thrifting community, Thrifting Atlanta, to bring in four Atlanta-based stylists and twenty models to walk the runway in curated Goodwill looks. All stylists have a natural passion for thrifting and shopping sustainably, so the focus of the show was to highlight the many ways you can shop second-hand.

One stylist was specifically interesting, because he took Goodwill fabrics and created completely new designs for his models to showcase. Abraham Corrillo and his wife created Roman Supply Co. during the pandemic, which is a sustainable fashion brand that utilizes every inch of fabric from second-hand items and Goodwill clothing to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Abraham shopped at multiple Goodwill locations to find fabrics for his street-style looks, which quickly became crowd favorites because every single piece from the runway sold after the show.

These looks and the Fashion Show in its entirety supports the idea that you don’t have to buy brand-new fabric to create amazing looks. Just stop by your local thrift store, shop around, and maybe some creativity will spark while you also shop more sustainably.