Desk, chairs, bed frames and wardrobes - 47.85 tons in all - from East Campus, Ruggles and Wien residence halls are the latest contributions from Columbia University to relief and development activity in the Caribbean.

The goods, in five ocean-going shipping containers, have been sent to Spanish Town, Jamaica, under the auspices of the nonprofit organization Food for the Poor and in collaboration with Institution Recycling Network. Food for the Poor will distribute the goods throughout the Caribbean.

"We knew we had a large project in the total renovations of East Campus and Ruggles," said Joyce Jackson, Executive Director, Housing Services. After determining what furniture would remain in use at Columbia, the rest - along with some that had been in a Wien storage area - was loaded into shipping containers for transport to Jamaica.

This was Columbia's second collaboration with IRN. The first involved 14.75 tons of kitchen appliances and supplies from the gut renovation of Faculty House, also early this summer.

However, Jackson said, in this instance and for the first time, Columbia employees actually did the loading of the shipping containers as a less expensive option to outside movers. "We were trying to make the project as cost-neutral as possible," she said.

Rick Roberts, IRN's project manager at Columbia, said he trained the employees on loading the first container "and then they took over." He described them as "so diligent - fun to work with and good packers."

IRN, based in Concord, N.H., collects property from organizations that would otherwise be discarding large amounts of surplus goods.

Last year the company completed projects for nearly 100 organizations in 15 states. The surplus was sent to about 12 countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, and reached U.S. organizations dealing with relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.