Mullen Interns Show That Forgetting an Umbrella Can Do a World of Good

Five interns at Mullen were tasked with creating a social innovation project as a part of their summer program. So they came up with U-Share, a Boston-based umbrella sharing program that allows soon-to-be-soaked do-gooders to pay $5 for a 36-hour rental. Users who return their umbrellas to one of the pre-determined drop-off locations can then claim a $2.50 refund.

U-Share was beta launched with 50 umbrellas on Monday July 15th and will be running until August 2nd. The money earned from the initiative will then be donated to water.org, a non-profit co-founded by actor Matt Damon and water and sanitation advisor Gary White. The organization strives to provide African, Latin American, South Asian and Caribbean communities in need with access to clean water. The growing list of pick-up and drop-off locations is available on U-Share Twitter and Facebook pages and additional contributions will be accepted after the beta run here.