Swipes event participates in Black History Month

At Emporium, students used meal points to buy food to donate.

By Megan Pearl

Published March 2, 2010

Correction appended

In honor of Black History Month, this semester's Swipes event donated its proceeds to the Nora Stewart Early Learning Center.

"The MU Black History Month Committee approached us about Swipes with their theme of economic empowerment," Multicultural Issues Committee Chairwoman Alex Holley said. "The Nora Stewart Early Learning Center was started by an African American and has been serving the community for 77 years."

This semester, MCI partnered with the MU Black History Month Committee after the idea was pitched to it earlier in the year. This was the third Swipes event, and it has donated to a different local organization every time.

In the past, Swipes has benefited organizations that support children. The first Swipes event donated to Granny's House, an organization that provides a place for children who live in public housing to go to after school. The second event donated to the Rainbow House, an organization dedicated to helping children who have been abused.

According to the Nora Stewart Web site, the organization was the first nursery school offered to the black community in Columbia. The aim of the center is to provide child care for children ages 2 to 10 and also offers care for those families who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

Swipes is a biannual event by the Missouri Students Association's MCI that employs students' leftover meal swipes to buy food to donate to a chosen organization.

"We passed legislation last year to have at least one per semester," Holley said.

Swipes collected and donated 30 boxes worth of food Saturday. Students use their swipes in Emporium at Plaza 900 to buy various foods, such as chips, cereal, cookies and other snacks for the children at the learning center.

Typically, Swipes would be stationed in front of two dining halls, such as Plaza 900 and Pavilion at Dobbs, but due to the cold weather, they only set up in front of Plaza 900, Holley said.

This Swipes event also saw more participation from senators and MSA members outside the MCI committee.

"MCI invited all the senators from other MSA Senate committees," Student Affairs Committee member Sean Nahlik said. "I volunteered during the day to get people to donate their swipes."

Nahlik, a former Maneater columnist, said there were members from Student Affairs and other committees in MSA. There is no official sign up for the event; volunteers can just show up and help.

"Before we wouldn't really have anyone outside of the committee, and we had about five people from other committees this time," Holley said. "It was really good to have them come out and see what we do. Although more people came out than usual, we would like to see more MSA senators volunteer. After all, it is through MSA."