Give Back OKC will host a donation drive at Classen Coffee Co. in collaboration with local podcast Localites OKC to collect feminine hygiene products and socks to donate to the Oklahoma City homeless community.
The drive will be Nov. 12.
Alumna Anna Farha co-founded Localites OKC in August. Farha is the chapter advisor of Alpha Chi Omega. Localites OKC airs every Thursday morning and covers events in the city. New episodes are released on The Spy FM and anywhere podcasts are available, Farha said.
“Classen Coffee had reached out to us wanting to do some kind of collaboration, and I was having trouble thinking of what to do with them,” Farha said. “When Abby approached me, it just clicked that this would be a great partnership.”
Bryan said she is amazed at the support the group has garnered. Classen Coffee Co. will offer a 10 percent discount to students who bring socks or a box of pads or tampons to the cafe, located at 2515 N. Classen Blvd.
“Classen Coffee Co. was 100 percent on board. They said they had wanted to do this for a long time,” she said. “That’s happening all day. Hopefully that’ll bring more people who appreciate caffeine.”
Give Back OKC members plan to continue collecting volunteer email information and donation items as Thanksgiving nears. The feedback has been positive, Bryan said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of people signing up to be volunteers. We’ve got a good amount of donations as well. We were collecting those throughout the week but got a big chunk of them towards the end of the week, which was really amazing. We’ve just been letting people know who we are,” Bryan said.
Sydney Epstein, acting sophomore, is another founder of Give Back OKC. She said Localites will touch on the group’s mission and the care package project the donations are being collected for.
“We are excited because it’s allowing us to supply an incentive to donate, which always produces more donations,” Epstein said. “In the podcast, we are going to discuss the charity as a whole, our mission and also new and upcoming ways to donate and give back.”
Bryan said she wants students to know that while donations are greatly appreciated, time and effort is of equal value.
“You don’t need to spend money to be in support of the cause. You can volunteer your time, you can comb through your room,” Bryan said. “There are so many ways to show your support.”
For students who want to purchase items to donate, Bryan suggests picking something up at Alvin’s.
“The most wonderful thing is that we have Alvin’s, where you can buy a box of tampons or some soap,” Bryan said. “We were talking to the people at Alvin’s the other day, and they said on the day of the drive they’d be willing to donate food from the fridge to bring out to everyone.”
The organization received around 50 donations over the weekend, which Bryan and Epstein are trying to organize, Bryan said.
There is an estimated 5,500-7,000 people who experience homelessness in Oklahoma City every year, according to The Homeless Alliance.
Give Back OKC will begin working on new projects after Thanksgiving.
“It’s definitely something we want to continue throughout the year, in different ways to help out the community, because the need is never going to stop,” Bryan said.
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