In less than a week of fundraising, the Students Against Sexual Violence club received 14 out of 17 wanted donation items for the Homestead House — a program for women leaving the sex industry.
“The community comes together pretty quickly when they see people who can use things that [need donated],” senior Rose Ried, co-president, said. “It’s kind of eye opening that these … women don’t necessarily have these things.”
According to senior Megan Emery, co-president, the club originally planned to participate in a service project for the Homestead House. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a pin in that plan, so the club turned to fundraising.
“A lot of people don’t know about the Homestead Ministry at all,” Emery said. “Spreading the word is really important because it’s a super cool cause.”
The Homestead House put together a lengthy list of necessities, such as laundry soap, paper towels, trash bags and tissues. One week later, SASV had raised between 15 and 20 items.
“Discovering what Homestead [is] about [and] the process overall was really fun,” Ried said. “My favorite part [was] walking past the bin every day and seeing … how the donations added up and how the box just kept getting fuller and fuller.”
Starting April 9 and running until May 2, SASV will begin their next fundraiser: the Her Drive. The fundraiser will help various organizations, including the Crisis Center and the Fit Closet. Like their Homestead House fundraiser, the club will be looking for similar items, as well as makeup and feminime products.
“I hope [the fundraiser] shows people that this is an actual need,” Emery said. “A lot of us are super privileged and so if you have something that others don’t have you should be helping out as much as you can.”
On Monday, the club decorated donation boxes that will be put out around school and the community. SASV hopes to team up with around 20 local churches and other businesses to make fundraising a community wide operation.
“I think that people will see that … the community of Manhattan cares about the community of Manhattan,” Ried said. “We’re a very caring town in a very closely bonded town.”