CoPIRG, Auraria students
attempt
a Fill-a-bus-tour
By Andrea Schreiner
aschrei3@mscd.edu
Members of the Colorado Student Public Interest
Research Group, UCD chapter, parked fellow member Todd Lowryís
1973 Volkswagen bus on Auraria between the Plaza and the Auraria
Event Center March 6-9 for their "Fill-a-bus-tour."
Students filled the bus with an estimated 500
nonperishable food items and 1,500 clothing items for Family Tree
Inc., a nonprofit homelessness and domestic abuse organization
with six locations in the Denver area.
According to Drew
Hazouri, coordinator of CoPIRGís homelessness and hunger campaign,
the bus was white when it showed up on campus and CoPIRG members
painted it.
Hazouri
said members of CoPIRGís homelessness
and hunger campaign completed a needs assessment, called a variety
of organizations and chose Family Tree because it serves a
wide
variety of people.
"Not only do they help the homeless, they
actually have rehab programs," Hazouri said.
According to Steve Harrell, director of public
relations and marketing for Family.
Tree,
the organization will distribute the nonperishable food items
to
three of its six agencies: Gemini Adolescent Treatment Center,
which provides emergency shelter and services to homeless
and
runaway youth, House of Hope, which provides shelter and services
for homeless families in Arapahoe County and south metro Denver
and Women In Crisis, which provides shelter and services for
women
and children in Jefferson County who are victims of domestic
violence.
The clothing items will be
given to Treasure Trunk Thrift Store, 743 W. 38 th
Ave., Wheatridge, according to Harrell.
All items given
to Treasure Trunk are available to Family Tree clients, first
through vouchers and then they are made available to the public.
"People come in and are definitely looking for
the bargains," Harrell said.
CoPIRG pursues student interests,
social interests and environmental interests.
According to Hazouri, the
UCD chapter of CoPIRG has four campaigns: Save the Forest,
Clean Energy, Cheaper
Education and Homelessness and Hunger.
The UCD chapter of CoPIRG
will sponsor a hunger clean-up April 8, Hazouri said.
They are trying to get a minimum
of 100 students to volunteer to do cleanup projects for three
to five
hours.
Students will need to get
their own sponsors and raise a minimum of $50.
CoPIRG is sponsored by UCD,
but is open to students from other colleges and universities. |
