STRIPES volunteers brake for barhoppers
Contrary to myth, police will not target STRIPES vehicles.
April 11, 2008
Senior Casey Conklin prepares to make her first pickup of the night after filling up her gas tank on Friday. Friday was Conklin’s first night driving for STRIPES after she turned 21 in December.
Freshman Matt Wheeler, STRIPES Director Domingo Pacheco and sophomore Tanner Tucker study a map showing STRIPES’ area of service at the STRIPES house on Friday. STRIPES gives rides to MU students throughout Columbia on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Sophomore Alex Popp receives a dispatch from the STRIPES house while preparing a receipt for the rider in his team’s car on Friday. Popp became a volunteer with STRIPES after learning about the program at his Summer Welcome orientation.
Juniors Valerie Bu and Sally Leimberg prepare receipts for riders on March 15 at the STRIPES house. Bu, who drives instead of taking calls because she is hearing-impaired, started volunteering for STRIPES after her 21st birthday.
STRIPES volunteers Sally Leimberg and Tom McDermott wait to pick up riders on March 15. Friends since before joining STRIPES, Leimberg and McDermott often carry on a lively conversation while driving on weekends for STRIPES.
The idea of driving around in a rental car picking up potentially intoxicated strangers from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. probably doesn’t seen too appealing to many, but that’s what a handful of students do every weekend. They gather together at headquarters at 9 p.m. and play Apples to Apples, Catch Phrase and other games while they wait for the phones to ring and announce that someone is in need.
STRIPES is a group of students who come together to keep MU students and Columbia residents safe by offering free rides to people who are too drunk to drive or just need a ride home.
One passenger summed up the group’s mission perfectly when he complimented the driver by saying: “It’s an honorable thing for you to be the protector of the night and save people.”
Many people who use the service haven’t consumed anything that alters their mental state at all - they just don’t have a car, Director of STRIPES senior Domingo Pacheco said.
“For example, I remember a girl who worked at the mall and used us to get home, and I’ve also given rides to a guy who works on campus - he, too, doesn’t have a car,” Pacheco said.
Mainstream teen flicks have portrayed the people who always take the part of the designated driver as geeky losers who have nothing better to do than drive drunk people around, but this is not the case, senior Rachel Bryan said.
“No one in our group looks down on those who drink,” Bryan said. “I go to the bars three times a week myself.”
Bryan breaks the nerdy connotation that generally comes with being a designated driver by being fun and chatty with the passengers.
“They’ll recognize me in the street, and I have people request me to pick them up,” Bryan said. “I talk, have fun, and get excited with them. I’m not a total loser - I don’t do it all the time.”
Bryan has been a member of STRIPES since she was a freshman, when one of the leaders of her sorority introduced her to the organization. Bryan said she’ll take a break from going to the bars once a week to help out with the organization because she likes helping MU and Columbia.
It is not necessary to own a car because STRIPES provides vehicles for its volunteers.
STRIPES usually obtains higher-end cars, such as GMC Yukons and Nissan Pathfinders, from the car rental company Enterprise Rent-A-Car at discounted prices.
“So not only do you get to avoid using your own car, but the ones you do use are often quite nice,” Pacheco said.
When using these vehicles, it is STRIPES’ policy to send out two volunteers - one to drive and one to receive phone calls from headquarters.
Volunteers are always paired with someone of the opposite sex. It seems that each volunteer enjoys the mixing of the sexes, but for different reasons.
“I love to hang out with other girls and gossip,” Bryan said, “but I understand it’s a safety rule.”
Bryan said drunken male students sometimes hit her on her, asking for her number, so it’s nice to have another sober male in the car with her.
Freshman Josh Kendrick, who rides shotgun when on the move to pick up someone, likes the way the volunteers get paired up, but more because of the opportunity to mingle.
“It gives you a chance to meet girls,” Kendrick said.
This way, a passenger always has someone he or she can relate to, Kendrick said. If they pick up a group of girls, then there’s a girl for them to talk to, and vice versa with male students.
Senior Stefanie Gaynor said she thinks the gender mix makes the people STRIPES picks up more comfortable. She said she could see that if two strange men picked up a solo girl, she might get nervous and not feel safe.
“I only had two rides that were horrible,” Bryan said. She said she has been on hundreds of pick-ups. “Some people are obnoxious, but most are just grateful.”
Kendrick enjoys meeting all the people he picks up.
“It’s interesting every night, and you meet someone cool every time,” he said.
Once, Kendrick picked up a couple, and suddenly the male passenger didn’t look very good - he just threw up.
Some underage people who have been drinking might be afraid to call STRIPES because they don’t want to be caught and get in trouble for breaking the law. But Pacheco said they have nothing to worry about.
“This is a complete myth,” Pacheco said. “Last year someone decided to spread a rumor that cops were pulling us over because of the new minor in possession law, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that this has never happened and never will.”
Pacheco said he has talked to the University of Missouri-Columbia Police Department and the Columbia Police Department about this. Both sets of law enforcers told Pacheco that they wouldn’t pull over a STRIPES car for transporting a minor.
“Police realize that we are making roads safer and avoid punishing us for that,” Pacheco said.
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