Illustration by David Plunkert

Alumni looking to reminisce about Kresge Hall might want to book a trip to Jamaica. That was one of the destinations for the 50 truckloads of household and office goods that HBS donated to non-profits as part of its recycling of the former dining facility, which stood on the site where the Chao Center will be built. (The Kresge name remains on campus, though: East Drive has been renamed Kresge Way.) “If we can take a piece of furniture and send it to someone who can reuse it, we really value that more than any other disposition method,” says Rob Gogan, the University’s associate manager of recycling and waste. “That’s especially true when recycling allows needy organizations to receive goods they couldn’t afford otherwise.” Below, we track a few of the donations to see where Kresge Hall lives on.

Wire racks

Allston, Mass.
West End House Boys & Girls Club
Formerly used to store utensils and cookware, the racks now store the club’s arts-and-crafts supplies.

Kitchen equipment

Haiti and Jamaica
Various charities
More than three truckloads of pots and pans, ladles, spoons, china, and rolling sinks went to nonprofits in Jamaica alone.

Photos by Joanie Tobin

Office chairs

Watertown, Mass.
Vocational Advancement Center
The Center employs special-needs adults to carry out various administrative tasks, which Gogan says require better seating support than the chairs nonprofits can typically afford.

Stacking chairs

Uganda
Waltham College of Uganda
This school was founded by a native of Uganda—and named after his current Massachusetts hometown—to educate AIDS orphans.

Oriental rugs

Brighton, Mass.
Veronica B. Smith Multi-Service Senior Center
“For their clients,” says Gogan, “rolling out these rugs makes it feel like they are having dinner at the Kennedys’ in Brookline.”

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