SOAP hopes to give to the community

College students love to talk about how poor they are when they are going through school; how they once survived three full days on just a jar of apple sauce. \nWhat many college students don't know is that Bloomington is on the list of the top 10 poorest college towns and one in three Bloomington residents lives in poverty, according to the U.S Census Bureau, which also considers a family of three that makes under $15,000 dollars a year poor. \nSenior Chong Choe realizes what an immense problem poverty is in Bloomington, which is why he has actively taken part in Students Organized Against Poverty. Choe started working with the organization when he was a freshman and now is the president. \nChoe said SOAP is now starting to rebuild their group after a falling out a few years ago. \n"There was lack in student interest and economic conditions have not been favorable lately," Choe said.\nVolunteer members of SOAP gather furniture donated by members of the community and redistribute it to those who need it most in the community. With economic conditions being rocky lately, there has been a lack of furniture to donate, Choe said. \n"When times are tough, people are not buying new furniture, so there is less to give out," he said. \nSophomore Chris Bottger, SOAP's vice president, has not taken part in many projects thus far with the organization but is focusing on getting SOAP back on its feet. \n"So far, we have just been getting the organization going again and trying to increase interest for us, so that we can have a working executive board once again," Bottger said.\nChoe, who has been with the organization for six years, said he has had some more memorable moments.\n"One time on a shift, I met a lady who was in bad shape and just got out of transitional housing. She had three kids, and one of them a baby sleeping in a dresser drawer because she had no furniture," Choe said. " We donated her a few couche,s and a few years later she got back on her feet and donated the couches back to our organization. That proved to me that what we were doing was actually worthwhile."\nSenior Neil Davis, SOAP's treasurer, joined the organization because of a combination of reasons. \n"I walked into the volunteer fair one day looking for something that interested me," Davis said. "I joined SOAP partly because of guilt, but also because I wanted to give more back to the community. Also, being an officer in an organization like this is good for me and for the community as well." \nChoe said he also chose to get involved because he felt a sense of responsibility. \n"Students have inadvertently flooded both the job market and housing market in Bloomington, which has caused some of the poverty in the area," Choe said. "Once I was exposed to this poverty, I couldn't turn my back on it."\nSOAP holds weekly meetings at 8 p.m. every Wednesday evening on the fourth floor of the Indiana Memorial Union Student Activities Tower.\n-- Contact staff wrtier Mark Carlson at mecarlso@indiana.edu.