Dollars 4 Change, an Ohio State student organization, is holding a winter clothing and book drive through Jan. 20 to collect donations for The Open Shelter, Inc. in Columbus.

Students can place their donations in specially marked boxes in each of the residence halls or at the campus-area Donatos Pizza located on High Street for those living off-campus.

Founded by four OSU students in spring 2010, Dollars 4 Change specializes in holding events on campus to raise awareness and funds for organizations in need.

Kunal Parikh, founder and former president of Dollars 4 Change and a fourth-year in chemical engineering, said more than 1,200 donations were collected last year when the drive was held for the first time.

This year, Max Dawes, a second-year in industrial and systems engineering and co-president of the organization, said he hopes to see even more participation across campus.

“For me, the clothing drive would be successful if we were able to pick up a full box of clothing from each dorm where a box was deposited,” Dawes said. “Although this doesn’t seem like a lofty goal, donation boxes were placed in 29 dorms and inside the Donatos on High Street. This means that we could donate and collect over 30 large garbage bags of usable clothing to the Open Shelter which is always in desperate need of supplies.”

Peter Worley, a second-year in mechanical engineering who also serves as co-president, said he believes that if students were aware of the drive, it would be beneficial.

“Publicity and awareness is what will make this drive successful,” Worley said. “Word-of-mouth among students is the best publicity, but we have also posted flyers all throughout the dorms and sent out info through OSU email listservs.”

Parikh said Dollars 4 Change gives students an easy opportunity to do good service in the community.

“It’s really about helping the community and inspiring young leaders to dedicate themselves to service,” Parikh said.

The next Dollars 4 Change event is a 3-on-3 basketball tournament Jan. 21 to benefit the Central Ohio Men United against Prostate Cancer and a video game tournament to raise funds for the Epilepsy Foundation of Central Ohio.