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JMU SafeRides Newsletter
Spring 2015
Spring Membership Drive 2014
Campbell Keyser [2015].
This Spring, the theme for our membership drive was SafeRides: We’re Your Next Stop!
Through the large publicity push and use of membership drive shirts, promotional space, and
info sessions, we received 130 applications, our highest number yet! After reading applications and interviewing candidates, we accepted 38 new service-minded, wonderful members.
We’re excited to see the potential they have for the future of the organization!
New Members receiving their Operations Shirts on February 26, 2015
In This Issue
 ASB Tennessee
 New Members
 Dolley Awards
 GPS/Tom-Tom
 Relay For Life
 Gala 2015
 Choices
 The Maddys
 Future of SR
 Operations News  New Board of
Directors
 Community Involvement
 Sponsors
GPS Reveal
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Second Annual Gala: The Great Gala
Maggie Hoolehan [2015]
Gala was held on March 28, 2015 at Cross Keys Vineyard. Gala is a formal fundraising dinner
where current SafeRides members, alumni, family and friends gather for a night of fun SafeRides Gala is based on Carpool, a safe ride organization from Texas A&M University. SafeRides learned about gala through a Safe Ride Programs United (SRPU) conference. Carpool
raises around $25,000 - $30,000 at their annual event.
This year, 116 guests attended and over $3,000 was fundraised through the
dinner and silent auction!
The silent auction items included an iPad, JMU football tickets, and a SafeRides quilt. In between the courses, attendees could bid on items or take photos at the photo booth. Hailey
Slaton, a general body SafeRides member, commented “ I loved seeing everyone’s hard work
come together. A lot of money was raised for our organization and it was great seeing everyone having such a great time.” Currently, Lexis Antos, the Special Events Director for next
year, and Maggie Hoolehan, the current Special Events Director, are planning next years Gala.
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Biggest Auction Item: $600
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SafeRides Presents:
The Maddys
Logan Hamlyn [2015]
The Maddys, formerly known as She and He, will be
hosted on April 21 from 8pm - 9:30pm. The name was
changed to make the event more inclusive. Logan Hamlyn, the Campus Engagement Director, explained “We
want the event to be less about gender and more about
the celebration of organizations.” Since the name
change, SafeRides has received positive feedback from
multiple student organizations. To encourage participation, there will be a lot of raffles. Attendees had the
chance to win gift cards, pizza, selfie sticks, a Kindle
Paperwhite, and much more.
The Maddys had just under 350 people in attendance,
with thirteen organizations in eleven groups represented.

The Second Runners Up were Mozaic Dance Team +
Filipino Americans at Madison.

The First Runners up represented Phi Chi Theta Professional Business Fraternity.

The Winners represented Bare Naked Ladies, a fairly
new organization on campus.
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Sponsorship Prizes from SouthView Apartments
SafeRides Representatives: Caitlin & Brian
Winners: JMU Bare Naked Ladies
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Operations News
Nick Zurlo [2015]
Ride Count: 63,872
The Weekends of April 10-11 and April 24-25 proved to be huge stepping stones for SafeRides. Both weekends, we were able to run a SIXTH car! This increased our average ride
count per night from 175 to over 200 students! We are looking to institute a permanent sixth
car by 2016.
We are also pleased to announce our partnership with LiveSafe. LiveSafe is a Public Safety
App that allows students to document safe behaviors campus-wide. In addition, students can
report crimes and ensure their friends are safe. SafeRides is able to send campus-wide announcements regarding cancellations of Operations due to weather.
More importantly, SafeRides is currently writing up a contract for our own Mobile App! The
App will be designed by JMU Alumni and will include an automatic dispatching system for the
cars. The application will come with a brand new website that is directly linked to the dispatching side as well as the patron side. GPS technologies will allow patrons to track where
they are being picked up and
the approximate time.
SafeRides has also been revisiting funding in an attempt
to get more funding from the
university. Public Safety has
given us a $6,000 contribution for next year, and an annual budget is pending.
What Does a Typical Operations Night Look Like?
Nick Zurlo [2015]
1. Members arrive to the office between 8:30pm and 9:00pm.
2. If it is a Friday, five cars are retrieved from the rental location, Hertz
3. Working members go around the room to introduce themselves and the Director in Charge
(DIC) facilitates an icebreaker of their choosing.
4. The DIC goes over the various working positions (Phones, Logs, Driver, Navi)
5. The DIC works with members who are new to their position
6. Driver and Navi pair up and head to their cars around 9:45pm
7. Phones and Logs head to their assigned computers
8. Start taking calls at 10:00pm
9. Phones answer the calls and fills out basic information on the computer
10. Logs take the information submitted by the phones and assigns ride to a car
11. Navi (in the car) receives information from the Logs and communicates with Driver
12. Driver heads to assigned location
13. Phones stop taking calls at 3:00am
14. Driver and Navi continue to pick up patrons as long as they called before 3:00am
15. Once all rides are completed, all cars are returned back to the SafeRides office
16. If it is Saturday, some cars are returned to Hertz while others are returned Sundays
17. All working members complete a ‘debrief’ survey regarding the operations night
18. The DIC makes sure everyone completed their job and has left the office
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Community Involvement
Adopt-A-Highway, Justin Porter [2015]
In February, Justin Porter and JMU SafeRides were
approved for a permanent Adopt-A-Highway location
near RMH off Port Republic Road. For our first clean up,
we had over 25 volunteers and picked up 18 bags of
trash! This served as a helper point opportunity and encouraged SafeRiders to participate in something outside
of operations with service.
WHSV Interviews
Justin Porter [2015]
In March, PR Director Justin Porter received a phone call from WHSV asking about SafeRides Week. The local news had seen our social media campaign with the whiteboards explaining why members drive. Within a three week span in Harrisonburg, three fatalities occurred due to drunk driving accidents, so WHSV wanted to showcase proactive measures that
exist in the community, and naturally, SafeRIdes was the first considered!
WHSV arrived at Don’t Blow It, our spring educational event ready to film the trivia-style
presentation. Justin Porter was interviewed in the producer’s car answering questions about
SafeRides and it’s importance to JMU and Harrisonburg.
The interview and segment can be found here: http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/SafeRides-Week-at-JMU-297472251.html
On April 24, WHSV’s Channing Frampton is riding along with JMU SafeRides using a GoPro
and doing a more in-depth presentation on SafeRides as a whole and our impact on the community. He will be filming our operations night from beginning to end and we will be facilitating a mock-pick up of a patron to give the community an idea of how we run.
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The Dolley Awards
Justin Porter [2015]
The Dolley Awards are annual awards that are given to
outstanding organizations and individuals across campus that
have impacted JMU in a positive way. SafeRides was very fortunate this year to be nominated for FOUR awards!
Two organizational awards:
Outstanding Student Organization (non-FEB)
The Rose Award for Alcohol-Alternative Programming for
ONOROL
Two individual awards:
Chris Ehrhart, Advisor—is nominated for The Bluestone
Award for Outstanding Advising
Nick Zurlo, Operations Director—nominated for The Taylor
Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Student
Organization.
SafeRides was fortunate enough to win two: Outstanding Student Organization (Non-FEB) and
The Rose Award for Alternative-Alcohol Programming for ONOROL
Relay For Life 2015
Justin Porter [2015]
Led by Team Captains, Justin Porter, Allie Svites,
and Alex Parker, SafeRides continued to support Relay For Life this year, raising over $1,700. The team
was made up of 32 members, all of whom fundraised
for the American Cancer Society. JMU Relay For Life
raised over $200,000 this year with over 1,500 students being a part of a team.
CHOICES
Justin Porter [2015]
SafeRides is fortunate enough to have a
brand new office in the Student Success
Center. For CHOICES this Spring, we were
able to set up a booth during the open
house to answer questions from parents
and prospective students! Who doesn’t
love getting free stuff?
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Why Do We Drive? #SafeRidesWeek
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Alternative Spring Break—Maryville, Tennessee
Allison Lindsey & Sarah James [2016]
This year’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Trip took
11 SafeRiders and our Advisor, Chris, to Maryville, TN
where the week was spent cleaning up trash, learning
about the Cherokee Indians and participating in a Trail
Of Tears march. The volunteers enjoyed a free day in
Nashville. The majority of service was dedicated to
cleaning up trash around the reservation and removing invasive species that have taken over many of the
trails. Trip Leaders Allison Lindsey and Sarah James
enjoyed leading this group and are excited for the future of next year’s trip.
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SafeRides Week
2015
Nicole Gervais [2015]
March 23, 2015 was the
start of SafeRides week at
JMU, which consisted of interactive events, giveaways,
and educating the public on
the dangers of drunk driving.
Members of SafeRides started the week off by writing down ‘what they drive for’ on a whiteboard and taking a picture. This symbolized not only their passion for the organization, but
why they joined and continuously support SafeRides efforts. The photos were all across social
media and were displayed as member’s profile pictures.
Monday started off with the filming of the SafeRides’ new video, which included members
and students of JMU. Then the day ended with Drunk Goggle Mario Kart races in Taylor Down
Under, from 7-9PM. This was a huge hit and allowed students to understand the dangers of
drunk driving, even through a virtual reality.
Don’t Blow It was an event that occurred
Tuesday night and was another huge success. Students from all around campus
came out to participate in this trivia
event. Questions involved drunk driving
statistics and facts, which were able to
educate everyone involved.
Cali Blue Treats occurred on Wednesday of SafeRides Week, which included
members going around campus and
handing out candy.
Unfortunately on Thursday and Friday
of SafeRides Week, the weather was not
very cooperative and events had to get
cancelled, but that did not stop Cali Blue
love from reaching the community. Thursday night, SafeRides
hosted late night breakfast, which was free to all students. Then
on Friday,
Another part of week was mythbusting and supplying the
community about the truths regarding SafeRides. It was a great
opportunity to supply knowledge and educate individuals on the
organization.
An additional educational opportunity that SafeRides participated in this semester was Drink It Your Way, a safe alcohol consumption initiative created by SGA. We handed out free water
bottles and safe drinking habits to those on campus either leaving or returning from off-campus parties.
Meet our 2015-2016 Executive Board!
Board of Directors
Executive Director: Allie Palmer
Executive Assistant: Sarah Di Croce
Public Relations Director: Lily Slonim
Financial Director: Taylor Lewis
Sponsor Relations Director: Ethan Wolinsky
Education & Outreach Director: Allison Lindsey
Operations Director: Johnny Bachrach
Internal Director: Molly Dunlap
Special Events Director: Lexie Antos
Member Recruitment Director: Kayla Ibe
Board of Team Leaders
Team Blurrr: Jake Janesch
Stick Shift: Siena Moore
Cali Crew: Blaize Majdic
Hot Wheels: Abbie Willett
Shake & Brake: Tyler Mamrot
Blue Barracudas: Ana Leskanich
Shut Up & Drive: Megan McCoy
Dukes of Hazzard: Becky Schneider
Mystery Machine: Kemper Lake III
Greased Lightning: Morgan Flanagan
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