Holiday drives need attention for success

Collection drives on campus are just about as common as preachers on the Diag. And now that the winter holiday season is officially underway, University students can expect to see their fair share of charity drives on the Diag and often empty collection boxes at Angell Hall.

Michael Masters, chair of the Michigan Student Assembly's Community Service Commission, said one of the keys to a successful drive is conducting it within one or more established groups.

Meghan Broderick, a member of ProjectSERVE's campus program leadership team, said although she is optimistic about campus participation in tomorrow's AIDS Awareness Week Food Drive to be held on the Diag, she is counting on members of both organizat

EMILY LINN/Daily A Sociology 389 class, part of Project Community, set up this box in Angell Hall yesterday to collect art and school supplies for underpriviledged children.

ions to make the drive a success.

But the clothing drive that the Native American Law Student Association and the Women's Law Student Association held in October could offer a few lessons to groups interested in conducting a successful drive.

Colette Routel, a member of NALSA said the groups collected clothes from Law students and faculty to donate to send to the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

Routel said the collection received a large response from students at the Law School. When the drive rounded out its run in late October, both organizations had a shipping bill of $1,000 which they paid through revenues from a bake sale.

"We had planned to do a schoolwide clothing drive but we were getting so much stuff from the Law School, if we were to get a similar response from the rest of the school, we knew we wouldn't be able to handle all the clothes," she said.

Routel agreed that it is more efficient to collect items within groups than attempt to collect items from then entire campus. "You need a bunch of small communities working together," she said.

A smaller population helps drive organizers do the one thing Masters said is most likely to make a drive successful: publicize.

Routel said the members of NALSA and WLSA relied on word of mouth and e-mail chains to get the high response they received.

Broderick said for tomorrow's food drive, ProjectSERVE and Circle K International have planned to post fliers, send out e-mails and make announcements in classes to evoke a large campus response.

To get the word out about its drive, Director of the America Reads Tutoring Corps Albert Watt, said the corps decided to work under Washtenaw Literacy's annual Season's Readings book drive, which ends Dec. 10, to collect children's books for its tutoring program.

Citing Washtenaw Literacy as "well-known and credible," Watt said he hopes with their help, "people will take the drive more seriously."

Last year, when ARTC ran the drive on its own, it collected about 120 books. But since last year's Washtenaw Literacy Season's Readings Book Drive resulted in 3,500 books for about 10 organizations, Watt said he hopes this year's drive will yield a higher number of books.

Watt added that this year, ARTC is accepting books at 12 more sites than last year, including the English department and the School of Social Work.

Routel also suggests enlisting volunteers to make any collection successful.

Members of NALSA and WLSA staffed a table near the collection site. "Putting boxes out is not going to get anybody's attention," Routel said.

But student apathy may be an obstacle those who intend to collect for a cause may face. "When you have people bringing stuff to a location, like the Diag, that's probably a barrier," Broderick said.

Masters said students need an incentive, such as a friendly competition included in last month's Red Cross, Alpha Phi Omega Blood Battle campaign. The organizers encouraged University students to donate more blood than students at Ohio State University.

"Unless people have a vested interest in donating something to a group, they're just not going to do it," said Masters, who is also the president of Blood Drives United, the organization that sponsored the Blood Battle.

Routel said groups need to invest more effort into their drives to see a successful turnout. "If given a little push most people would contribute," Routel said.

Broderick explained that she hopes the cause will be the push students and faculty need to donate food at tomorrow's drive - a part of AIDS Awareness Week.

"People will know that their food is actually going somewhere," she said.

11-29-99