The Red Bus Project will be mak- ing a stop at Ouachita for the second consecutive year on Friday, October 16. The project aims to get students involved and aware of the needs of orphans and how they can make a difference.
The Red Bus Project is a double decker bus turned “mobile thrift store,” with all proceeds going toward orphan care advocacy. Students can learn more about the Red Bus Project’s mission while they shop on the bus for clothing collected at previous stops. Students are also encouraged to donate unwanted clothing to the project for use on future stops. In addition to clothing donated from other campuses, Red Bus Project merchandise will be available for purchase.
As well as raising funds for orphan care, the project provides students with statistics regarding the orphan care crisis. Students will have the op- portunity to speak to the people traveling across the country with the bus to learn more about the ministry of the Red Bus Project and how they can help meet the needs of orphans.
“We basically just set up on campuses so we can have conversations with college students about orphan care and ways that they can get in- volved,” says Brooke Lyle, student initiative program coordinator for the Red Bus Project. “Every 18 seconds, a child becomes an orphan, and we’re not okay with that…we’re here to represent and to kind of speak for those children that don’t necessarily have a voice.”
There are over 140 million orphans in the world, and the Red Bus Project hopes to lessen in that number by car- ing for as many orphans as possible.
“There’s a lot of kids out there that need a home,” says Tim Harrell, director of the Campus Activities office. “This is a program that tries to help put those two things together—a home and children.”
The Red Bus Project is the student initiative of a larger organization called Show Hope, established in 2003 by contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth.
Show Hope assists churches in setting up adoption funds and operates a Special Care Center for orphans in China, and launched the Red Bus Project in hopes of seeing college students become more involved in orphan care. Since the project’s launch in 2012, the bus has stopped at more than 60 colleges across the United States and has contributed nearly $50,000 to the care of orphans.
While the easiest way for students to get involved is through shopping on and donating to the bus, there are many ways that students can be involved with the ministry of the Red Bus Project after it leaves campus. The project also provides opportunities for students to go on mission
trips to orphan care organizations in China and Haiti as well as opportunities for internships. Students also have the opportunity to be a campus “orphan defender,” which creates a partnership between the organization and college campuses to find needs within individual communities.
“Jesus says something very specific about orphans and widows,” says Tim Harell. “There is a need out there, to put it bluntly, for people to love these little kids. This is a way that students can indirectly but also a little bit directly influence this organization and help them out.”
This will be the second year that the Campus Activities Office has hosted the event with the help of the Campus Activities Board and the Ouachita chapter of International Justice Mission. The event will be held Friday, October 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in front of Evans Student Center.
To keep up with what the Red Bus Project is doing outside of their stop at Ouachita, you can visit their website at redbusproject.org or find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat
