Sydney Kate Watson, asst. arts & living editor
You might have seen a bright pink van rolling around campus. You are witnessing a van with a mission: the Hospitality House Thrift Van.
The Thrift Van’s project coordinator Mary Ashford Hyde, senior, explained that the van is an outreach program for the Hospitality House for Women, a non-profit organization that provides assistance for individuals escaping domestic violence. While the Hospitality House has a thrift store to raise money for their organization, the Thrift Van was a way to take the thrift store into the community. Hyde, along with Hospitality House volunteer Olivia Crumbly, sophomore, and other friends, run the van’s thrifting events on campus.
The Thrift Van has held several events this month on Krannert Lawn and by the cottages. According to sophomore and Thrift Van volunteer Alejandra Torres, it was a beautiful thing to witness the Thrift Van in action.
“It was really overwhelming in a good way to see how it all came together,” Alejandra Torres said. “Everything came together perfectly.”
According to Crumbly, funds generated from the Thrift Van contribute to the Hospitality’s House’s everyday functions.
“It is going to go directly to the shelter like getting items like toilet paper, groceries, things like that for the guests that are staying there,” Crumbly said.
Not only are the Thrift Van’s proceeds directly benefiting the Hospitality House, but it is spreading information about domestic and dating violence to college-aged individuals. The Thrift Van’s mission statement is “on the road to end violence,” according to Hyde.
“I felt like that was a captivating message, our hope for the van is that we can educate the community on domestic violence and be on the road to end violence in our community,” Hyde said.
By appealing to college age students, Crumbly emphasized that the Thrift Van provides an opportunity to begin the conversation.
“I just think it’s a perfect opportunity to be able to spread awareness on domestic violence, especially with college students,” Crumbly said.
College campuses are full of individuals who lack a firm understanding of the multifaceted nature of domestic violence, so it also makes them an ideal location to operate the Thrift Van, according to Hyde.
“We wanted to be on college campuses because I feel like there are a lot of students that aren’t educated on domestic violence, and we really hope to start conversations around domestic violence, dating violence,” Hyde said.
Domestic violence, as Crumbly explained, is an umbrella term and can take shape in many different forms, making it difficult to identify.
“[Domestic Violence] doesn’t have to be just physical violence it doesn’t have to be laying hands on each other or just the things that you would see on social media, it doesn’t have to be that,” Crumbly said.
Hyde reiterated that there are many different types of abuse individuals may experience.
“Abuse can look really different, it could be emotional, it could be verbal, it could be financial,” Hyde said.
Hyde also said that domestic violence comes with a stigma about the type of individuals that experience it, and she emphasized that this common notion is false.
“People experience violence no matter your race, your culture,” Hyde said. “Whatever your background is you could be experiencing violence.”
Because there are so many different expressions of abuse, it is sometimes difficult for individuals experiencing domestic violence to know that they are in that situation. Crumbly uses an analogy of a frog and its relation to boiling water to describe the process of experiencing domestic violence.
“If you take a frog and you put them in boiling water they’re bound to jump out, but if you take it and put it in cold water and gradually turn the heat up it’s going to die,” Crumbly said.
Due to this time frame of domestic violence, according to Hyde, the Thrift Van’s educational programs aim to catch signs of violence before that water has risen to a boil.
“We want to also be preventative, help people catch signs of violence before it gets to a more extreme situation,” Hyde said.
To be on Berry’s campus and help educate students of those early signs, the Thrift Van needs an on-campus organization to partner with. Currently, they are partnering with the Berry Reducing Assault and Violence through Education (BRAVE) program. Hyde emphasized that both the Thrift Van and BRAVE are looking to educate, and she is thankful for the opportunity to partner with them.
“We’re excited that we get to partner with the BRAVE project because we support what they stand for,” Hyde said.
In the future, the Thrift Van wants to expand onto other college campuses such as Shorter University and Georgia Highlands College, according to Crumbly.
“We’re hoping to not only do Berry students but do like another weekend at Shorter University and maybe Georgia Highlands, so we can get awareness everywhere and get on campuses everywhere in Northwest Georgia,” Crumbly said.
According to Hyde, the Thrift Van is full of potential, and besides offering education it can gather people as a community.
“It would also be really cool to see this van as something to bring people together, that people can have a common ground to support each other,” Hyde said. “A diverse group of people experience domestic violence and as people come together to support victims of domestic violence, it will bring the community together more.”
Sophomore and Thrift Van volunteer Valentina Torres has already witnessed the community it generates.
“[The Thrift Van is] not only selling clothes but also sharing that message of you’re not alone and a lot of people have went through this,” Valentina Torres said.