Start your weekend tonight by supporting the comeback of everyone’s favorite means of Square transportation.
Students for a Safe Ride will be hosting a fundraising event called Back2Back tonight and tomorrow from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. to support the Safe Ride program, the reformed and rebranded Rebel Ride.
Safe Ride is a student-led initiative that provides students with free transportation to the Square as a means of discouraging unsafe driving. The old Rebel Ride began to change into Safe Ride two years ago under the direction of the ASB and Davis Rogers.
“When we changed from Rebel Ride to Safe Ride, we incorporated a whole new mindset,” Natalie Truong, co-president of Students for a Safe Ride, said. “Now the organization is truly student led and student geared. Where the stops are placed, day-to-day work to make sure there are necessary funds, student-focused social media rebranding— it’s all handled by our student committee. It’s on us to make the changes and to make sure it’s successful.”
Students for a Safe Ride hopes to accomplish a series of goals by offering students a free alternative means of transportation to and from the Square.
“Obviously our No. 1 goal is to keep students safe. But we also hope to encourage students to continue to make smart decisions,” co-president Nina Brown said. “Students need a ride to the Square for numerous reasons and parking is undoubtedly an issue, which is why the city of Oxford has gotten behind this initiative. It’s safe and affordable. Overall, we just want to spread awareness about alcohol-related accidents before they happen and hopefully make safe transportation a habit.”
Students for a Safe Ride have pledged to raise over $20,000 to continue the program. The committee feels that students should contribute to ensure the overall success of the service.
“We receive some funding from the University. But it’s student-led and student-utilized, so we think it’s important that students see students raising the money,” Brown said. “It shouldn’t be something that the University is just responsible for.”
For the future of the committee and its services to the University, Brown and Truong have a clear vision.
“We see this committee being the committee that students really want to be a part of,” Brown said. “We had a ton of people apply, and we have some top-notch people this year. We hope to increase the money to not only increase the hours that we are able to run, but also the locations. We also want to begin some programs on informing students to make smart decisions.”
Safe Ride will be hosting the Back2Back event in order to begin to fulfill the committee’s $20,000 pledge. The committee will be selling $5 wristbands in advance that will serve as a cover for each evening, with all of the wristband proceeds going to the committee. These can be purchased through Tilt or at the Union. There will be a $10 cover at the door.
The event will be held at Rooster’s Blues House tonight and at Locals tomorrow night.
“We are just really excited about the event and to work with these two businesses,” Truong said. “It’s a normal bar night, but now people can have fun for a cause because this is something that is without a doubt near and dear to the student body.”
Safe Ride has received support from the Oxford community as well.
“Several businesses, aside from Roosters and Locals, have sponsored us that we are really excited about,” Brown said. “We’ll have banners printed that show their support. We’ll also have a banner at the Union and at the event that students actually sign, pledging to make smart decisions and to not drink and drive.”
Truong and Brown also hope that students will utilize the Safe Ride service to and from the event.
Buses run from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Check out Safe Ride Ole Miss on Facebook or @SafeRideOleMIss on Twitter for more information about Safe Ride and the Back2Back event.
