After a months-long organization process, Buddies On Call is set to launch. The program, endorsed by Student Council, aims to help University students walk safely throughout the community during the weekend when SafeRide is not operating.
“Buddies On Call will operate from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on [Thursday, Friday, and Saturday] nights to help create a safer community,” the Student Council website reads.
“From an operational standpoint, Buddies [On Call] is a way for students to get home more safely,” said Buddies On Call Co-Chair Jack Capra, a first-year College student. “Students call into us if they feel unsafe walking home. We walk to them, then walk them home. … If someone gets separated from their friends at a party, wants to leave that party early when none of their friends want to, feels unsafe exiting a library alone, or any other time they may feel uncomfortable walking alone, they call us to take them home.”
Buddies on Call started out small Capra said, stemming out of concern for friends and fellow students.
“The idea for Buddies On Call formed when I thought it would be nice if me and a few of my friends offered to walk people home from the Corner on weekend nights,” Capra said. “We established the idea of having people call in then sending the Buddies to them and adopted the SafeRide-esque model for operation that we have now.”
Overall, Capra said most students have reacted positively to the new program.
“Currently, the biggest success I have seen is just the amount of name recognition people have,” Capra said. “I was out passing out fliers on Monday before [Thanksgiving] break and many of the people I handed them to would respond, ‘Oh, I've heard of this,’ or ‘Hey — Buddies On Call.’”
Capra said the program will be of no cost to University students, Student Council or the University itself because of grants available to the program.
“All of our training for the Buddies is being provided for free by University-affiliated organizations such as the UPD [University Police Department] and ADAPT [Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team]," Capra said. "The small costs that remain are for background checks and the possibility of an incentive system for volunteers. To fund these we are looking into several grants from things like [the] Parents Committee.”
In the next several days, Capra and the Buddies On Call executive board will review applications from prospective members of the group and make selections for the first semester of operation, scheduled to start in the spring. Capra said the group will select between 50 and 75 members for the program’s inaugural group of “buddies” and operators.
“In the future I could see us getting as many as 150 plus members — however, for our first operational semester, we are trying to stay on the smaller side and make sure everything works well before going bigger,” Capra said.
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