INPIRG’s pledge week raises funds

On Monday, pleas of “Help fight hunger!” were met with no acknowledgement, a stern “no” or the rare “where do I sign?” as students exited Ballantine Hall.\nThe Indiana Public Interest Research Group is using its pledge drive this week to not only get people to pledge INPIRG, an environmental activist group, but also to “spread the word and raise awareness,” said INPIRG volunteer freshman Paul Levy, who was one of the members doing the recruiting outside Ballantine.\nPledging entails paying a $10 fee per semester, which can be billed to a student’s bursar account, said junior Ben Kitto, the media coordinator for the Campus Climate Challenge, a program that INPIRG-supported program dealing with the prevention of global warming.\nINPIRG members can be found for the rest of the week at Ballantine and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and at Collins and Read from 5 to 8 p.m., Kitto said.\nINPIRG puts on two membership drives each year, one in the fall and one in the spring, each lasting one week, Kitto said. \nDuring INPIRG’s spring pledge drive this week, the group hopes to attract about 1,200 new pledges, said sophomore Brett Kokot, assistant director of INPIRG’s Campus Climate Challenge. Each pledge will pay $10, which will make them official members of INPIRG.\nElliot Hayden, the Campus Climate Challenge coordinator, said in a March interview that INPIRG is a nonprofit, student-run and student-funded organization. \nThe $10 pays for a number of costs, including a paycheck for the woman that runs INPIRG’s internship program, money to hire lobbyists and advocates in Washington, D.C., and donations to causes that INPIRG supports, Kokot said.\nSome of the donations will go to the Campus Climate Challenge, Kitto said. \nKokot said another portion will be used for INPIRG’s other project, the Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, which benefits the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, hence the cries of “Help fight hunger!”\nHunger Cleanup, one of the events that is partially funded by the money raised during pledge week, took place March 24 and is one of INPIRG’s biggest events of the year. Hunger Cleanup is a “serve-a-thon” where students get people to sponsor them for each hour they volunteer on a Saturday, according to INPIRG’s Web site.\nIn 2006, IU’s Hunger Cleanup raised the second highest amount of money out of 88 schools and communities and likewise raised the most money out of all schools from online fundraising, according to Hunger Cleanup’s Web site.\nKokot said pledging INPIRG provides a way for students to help the causes they are concerned with even if they are unable to physically volunteer.\n“This gives people a chance to give money to issues they care about even if they can’t be there to help,” Kokot said. “It is a great way to invest your money if you can’t invest your time.”\n–Indiana Daily Student reporter Heather Haemker contributed to this story.