Change for Change Article 4/2008

Evan Carter walks into the University of Montevallo’s cafeteria on a Monday afternoon for a bite to eat. After swiping his card, he walks over to a nearby table, hangs his backpack on the chair, and pulls out a water jug filled with pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. The container easily weighs several pounds. Soon Carter is joined by several friends, who are all carrying similar jugs. Each container contains a printed flyer, bearing a water pump with a drop of water falling from its faucet onto a map of the world, along with the words “Change for Change.”
Carter, a UM graduate student studying English and secondary education as well as the fourth floor Resident Assistant for Peck Hall, heads up the UM Housing and Residence Life Environmental Team, which performs environmentally conscious service projects throughout the year.
“Over the break, I went to a few churches and heard about all these efforts to bring clean water to the masses on an international scale,” said Carter. “Roughly 2.6 billion people have no access to sanitary water. After hearing those statistics, I felt like I was called to give to these needs. It’s basically my tithe.”
“Change for Change,” which began in January 2008, represents his effort to benefit actor Matt Damon’s philanthropic organization, H2O Africa. Damon’s organization raises money to fund water purification systems across the African continent. Carter said that a water purification pump and a moderately-sized well costs
around $3,000. These items would provide sanitary water for about 900 people. Since H2O promises to match all donations, Carter and his team members set their goal for $1500.
James Owens, a senior mass communications major and RA for Fuller Hall, said that the project was intended to raise funds, as well as awareness.
“We wanted to raise as much money as possible, but we also wanted to raise awareness of what’s going on ‘outside the box.’ Right now, 15,000 people die from water contamination daily. Three people die every 10 minutes. Hopefully this will be a reality check for people,” Owens said.
After presenting the idea to his team, Carter’s first obstacle was getting permission for the project. “The process was rather simple. The Director of Housing had to get approval from the Vice President of Student Affairs, in order to make sure that no problems occured with requesting funds from the student body.” A university account was set up to keep track of the donations. Since no receipts could be made for donations, the money was kept under close supervision with everyone in the group adhering to the “honor system.”
When they finally worked out the logistics, the group began to advertise around campus. Initially, they posted flyers telling students to see their RA for more information about the organization and how to donate to the cause. According to Andrea Graves, a sophomore photography major and RA for Main Hall, the flyers did not have a
significant impact on donations. “We were having a low turnout so we started placing
collection jars around campus, and Evan and I carried around huge water jugs to the cafe and to housing programs which greatly increased donations,” Graves said.
Change for Change also benefited from several other sources besides the water jugs. “Jennifer Restauri, the Information Liaison for Greek Organizations, made sure Change for Change was the sponsor for Greek Week, which will hopefully lead to more donations,” Carter said. “Also, when Nurse Davis went to a nursing convention, she took along a water jug and received generous donations. We have also received donations from students’ families.” With the combination of all these efforts, the team had exceeded their $1,500 goal at the end of March. As of April 24, 2008, Change for Change had raised $1,705, which will become $3,410 after the check is sent to H20 Africa.
Carter said that the experience has changed his outlook on life, especially in the area of money. “That single penny I see when I’m walking on the sidewalk has a completely different meaning to me now. I was crossing the road on the way to class one day, and I saw a dirty penny in the middle of the street. I bent to pick it up and nearly got hit by a car. But for me, that’s one less person who will have to experience severe thirst.”
The amount of donators also impacted him. “I was amazed that those small increments of money could add up so fast when so many people get involved,” he said.
Owens and Graves also recounted positive experiences. “I’ve learned that every little bit helps. People shouldn’t look down on loose change, because that quarter in your
pocket can prolong someone’s life for a few more weeks,” said Owens.
“This project has greatly changed my views on spare change. I make more of an effort to pick it up. Because after a while you'll be amazed at how much all those loose coins can add up to be,” Graves added.
Carter and his team will continue to collect donations until the end of the
semester. He said he hopes to continue Change for Change next semester and start a new project called Tom’s Shoes. “With Tom’s Shoes, you buy a pair of shoes from their website for $40 and they send a pair to someone in South America. They have really cool designs, so when people ask you about your shoes, you have a chance to spread the word about the organization.”
Students interested in donating to Change for Change should contact their RA or Evan Carter. They can also make a direct donation to H20 Africa by going to www.h20africa.org .