Donor Spotlight: Diane Agarwal
We’re shining a spotlight on one of our amazing donors and Core Volunteers, Diane Agarwal! Diane owned a foiled paper business and found ACR while looking for a place to responsibly donate her remaining inventory when the business closed. We’re so glad she found us! In addition to her wonderful donations, Diane leads our weekly Education Supplies Community Volunteering session, where school supplies are sorted and bundled for use in our Educator programs. She’s also graciously lended a hand during field trips, offsite volunteer groups, and in-center events including our Community Pride Day and free make and takes. Read on to learn more about Diane and her incredible contributions to ACR!
Where did your donations come from? Are you an individual donor or did you donate on behalf of a business?
I recently closed my small business that happened to be a craft business. I really didn’t want my product to go into the landfill and I was trying to find a place where I could donate it and that’s when I found ACR!
Currently, my donations are personal and business.
Is this your first time donating to ACR or do you donate on a regular basis?
I donate to ACR on a regular basis. In fact, I’m always finding stuff at home that I think would be very useful for creatives.
What kinds of materials have you donated to ACR?
Business wise, I’ve donated a grid wall, all the hooks that belong to the grid wall, lights for the grid wall, and lots of foiled paper!!!
Personally, I’ve donated construction paper, tons of colored pencils, H-E-B bags, gift bags, and tissue paper, even ribbon. I also donated my David Winter collection. I think most of those were sold online.
How did you find out about Austin Creative Reuse?
Online. I was always hoping to donate my foil paper to a good cause. So I kept trying to search for a place that would be able to do something with it or sell it. That’s when I found ACR!!!
Why did you choose to donate your materials to ACR instead of other organizations?
I chose ACR because it specializes in creative items or things that could be used as creative items, even an Easter basket or Christmas lights. I love that the merchandise changes every single day!
What do you hope will happen to the materials you donated?
I don’t have to hope because I know people will use the items that I donated.
Are you involved with ACR in any other capacity (ex. volunteer)?
Yes, I’m a volunteer. In fact, I’m a Core Volunteer. I believe in their mission statement. I believe in keeping things out of the landfill if at all possible.
I volunteer by taking projects home, and I also volunteer by leading a group of volunteers on a weekly basis to sort through educational supplies, which means we sort through things like paper, pens, markers, and even fabric scraps, and get them ready for schools or for the retail floor.
I have dabbled in going off site for a team building exercise. I’ve also helped out with field trips, where students come to learn what we do at ACR and then they go home with a project that they make themselves.
Are you an artist, crafter, or maker? What mediums do you work with?
My thing is making stars with the foiled paper that I donate. My mom learned how to make these stars in Germany and I have and I learned from her and I never stopped making them.
Have you ever purchased materials from ACR? If so, what did you do with them?
I have purchased embossing folders and gift bags and my mom loves to purchase jewelry.
If you donated on behalf of a business, where can we learn more about it?
Even though you cannot purchase things on my website any longer, I have years of blog posts on the website that show all the wonderful techniques possible with the paper. I wanted to keep the website so that people have a place to go for inspiration.
If you’re an artist or maker, where can we learn more about your work?
My stars are still on my website if people are interested, but I’m also happy to teach people how to make the stars. They were originally used as Christmas decorations, but I’ve used them to decorate for parties, and even as bows. You only need scissors, a sharp pencil, and my foiled paper!