Biola students may now think twice before spending their scrounged up change on a Snickers bar in the vending machine.
Due to the work of A.S. senators and Residence Life staff, those extra coins can now be conveniently donated to help feed a hungry family or free a modern day slave. It just requires students to reach into their pockets and put their change in little boxes found on their floor.
This so-called loose change ministry began September in Hope Hall as a way to get the dorm residents focused around a common cause, said junior Eric Weaver, Hope North senator. Appropriately, the campaign was called Change for Hope.
The dorm is sponsoring the Sumba Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to improve the quality of life for the people of Sumba, a small island in Indonesia. It seeks to achieve its goals by improving the people’s health, education and potable water sources, according to the foundation’s Web site.
“It is the mission of Change for Hope to respond as Christ would have us to a world that suffers,” reads the campaign’s mission statement.
Weaver said he is “really encouraged” by how much money has been raised so far. While not disclosing the current amount, in a mid-September A.S. Senate meeting he said nearly $500 had been raised. The foundation agreed to match the funds Hope raised, he said.
After hearing Weaver talk about the project at a senate meeting, junior Cami Cress, Horton South senator, said she was inspired to take the idea to her own dorm.
Horton Hall decided to participate in a program called Loose Change to Loosen Chains, which is part of the International Justice Mission. This Washington, D.C., based organization helps victims of abuse and exploitation around the world, according to its Web site. Often these victims are children who have been sold to pay off a families’ debt, Cress said.
Wooden change boxes were installed on each floor of Horton, thanks to the donated labor of a student’s father, she said.
The dorm has set a $1,000 goal, which Cress said could free two people from what IJM’s standards consider slavery.
“We don’t have a lot of extra cash, but many students still have the desire to help others. This is a really easy way for people to do that,” she said.
Both Horton and Hope senators said they expect the loose change ministries to continue after they leave office. They expressed a desire for future residents to take ownership of the cause and choose the organization they wish to sponsor.
“I’m just really excited to see an ongoing opportunity here. I think once people start to see the huge impact that our extra change can make, momentum will keep this going,” said junior Emily Johnson, Hope South senator.
Alpha Chi has also jumped on board with the loose change ministries. Next semester the dorm will start collecting money for LivingWell, a pregnancy-help organization that offers free pregnancy tests, counseling and adoption services.
Junior Cheryl Massingill, Alpha East senator, said she was also inspired by Hope’s original efforts. The residents in her dorm supported the idea, and they decided to sponsor an organization that represented their all-female population, she said.
Freshman Gregory Nelson said he thinks the change box idea is effective because people always have change but don’t like carrying it around.
“It’s a little, but with everyone putting some in, it adds up to a lot,” he said.
