-By Gillian Wong

SpecSimple.com has started accepting donations for its annual Save A Sample! Drive, which will take place from April 20 to 22. All materials will be presented to design students in schools around the New York and New Jersey area.

Possible materials for donations include binders, brochures, carpet samples, fabric samples, glass samples, and stone samples. Save A Sample! entreats participants not to donate code books, carpet books, material boards, or sweets catalogs. The registration deadline is March 22, and officers will contact participants in early April for the date and time of the pick-up.  

Save A Sample! requests that all donated materials be packed in copy paper-sized boxes (approximately 11 by 17 by 9.5 inches), with 15 boxes per participant. Those who register early will receive Save A Sample! labels for the contents of each box.

Save a Sample! also takes the effort one step further by raising money to fund design school scholarships. Save A Sample! participants can suggest sponsors, which Save A Sample! will contact on the participant’s behalf. These sponsors will be asked to donate $35 for every box the participant donates to the Save A Sample! drive. The five firms with the most pledges will win prizes from furniture and lighting manufacturers and will be officially recognized by the New York chapters of the AIA, ASID, IIDA, USGBC, and SMPS.