Every year, Carleton’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) partners with local non-profit organizations for Lighten Up. Each community partner provides 30 hours of volunteer work each day for the three weeks prior to the sale, and all proceeds from the sale are then split between those participating organizations. The sale also contributes around $4,000 worth of school supplies annually to local families in partnership with Northfield’s Community Action Center.
The 2024 Lighten Up Sale raised over $31,000 for five community partners:
- Northfield Union of Youth (aka “The Key”) is a non-profit youth center run by young people
- Project Friendship teams up with Carleton and St. Olaf students to offer mentoring programs for local youth
- Special Olympics Minnesota offers opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to get involved with sports
- Growing Up Healthy works with partner organizations and immigrant families to cultivate neighborhood leadership, foster social connectedness, and advocate for systems-level change.
- Operation Backpack is a community-based resource offering Northfield students pre-K through grade 12 a free backpack and basic school supplies
