SafeRides rides at last
By Kaleigh Maher, staff writer
Posted on February 22, 2007

After four years of legal struggles, JMU SafeRides is finally up and running. This past weekend — its first providing rides — it gave 92 rides home to more than 200 students, and the phones were ringing off the hook.

“The phones were slammed,” student executive director Carolyn Bradford said. “It was great.”

SafeRides is a student-run, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free and safe rides home to JMU students Friday and Saturday nights.

“To see all our hard work pay off this past weekend was so amazing,” said junior Meghan Hardgrove, an executive member. “We have had many roadblocks in this process, but the struggle was worth it to see so many appreciative JMU students.”

On Friday night, SafeRides rented three cars from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, but after being flooded with calls, it decided to rent one more for Saturday night. The cost of renting and insuring the cars is $536, not including gas, for both nights. This weekend RT’s Chicken donated Sheetz gas cards to the organization.

The organization began as a student club, founded by Lyndsey Walther-Thomas in 2003, but could not get off the ground. Branford said JMU wanted SafeRides to purchase a $2 million insurance policy where it would be recognized under the university, but any accidents were to be handled by SafeRides’ insurance to prevent a lawsuit against JMU.

The organization realized it would be easier and less expensive to become a nonprofit corporation.

“Our service is a huge liability,” risk management director Amanda Santos said. “Thus, obtaining insurance, as well as a corporate account with a rental car agency, was very difficult.”

After receiving status as a corporation in Virginia last May, SafeRides moved all of its money out of JMU accounts into a CommonWealth One account. It was awarded nonprofit status the first week of January.          

“It was better that we didn’t rush it,” team leader Dara Silbert said.

Bradford also hopes that because SafeRides is a nonprofit organization, and donations are now tax deductible, it will receive more money from donors.

SafeRides raised more than $20,000 during the past four years. According to Bradford, SafeRides could support itself for at least two semesters without any fund raising. “We’re going to be kicking fundraising up even more,” Bradford said. “Now that we’re operating, money’s going to go fast.”

Fund-raisers held in April help SafeRides defray its operating costs, and it is currently looking for permanent national sponsorships.

SafeRides operates on Friday and Saturday nights between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., and students must have their JAC Card and another form of ID to get a ride.

“I expect to see us getting more and more popular throughout the JMU community,” Bradford said. “This first weekend was all that we could have hoped for; it was a great success.”