Story by Julia Mazzuca, Staff writer
A large, red, double-decker bus sparkled in the sun all day Tuesday by the Murray State gates with people in bright red shirts and big smiles ready to share with students why they were on campus.
The Red Bus Project, a mobile thrift shop, came to Murray for the second year in a row, trying to raise money and awareness for the needs of orphans all over the world.
Emily Bruns, senior from Quincy, Ill., contacted the Red Bus Project to ask if they would come back to Murray.
“I just love what the Red Bus Project does and how the students on our campus were impacted last spring,” Bruns said. “Since the event was sponsored by the United Campus Ministries Association, it was neat to see all the different campus ministries work together to show hope to orphans around the world.”
Every 18 seconds, a child becomes an orphan and there are more than 140 million orphans around the world today who are in need of hope, according to the Red Bus Project website.
The Red Bus Project goes from college to college, collecting and selling donated clothes to students, faculty and staff.
Murray State students were able to walk through the double decker bus, sift through bins, and spin a wheel to win free prizes.
The bus and bins contained donated clothes, shoes and accessories that were sold to raise money for the orphans.
The Red Bus Project also sold their own merchandise such as T-shirts, water bottles and bracelets.
The money that they make from the red bus will help to raise awareness of the orphan crisis on college campuses across the United States, according to the Red Bus Project website.
College-aged interns from the Red Bus Project and volunteers from the campus ministries of Murray State helped throughout the day to retain the flow of students.
Marilyn Holder, freshman from Lexington, Ky., helped volunteer for a part of the day to assist with anything they needed.
“I enjoyed getting to be a small part of such a big project to help orphans,” Holder said. “It is really cool to see so many college students working to help orphans instead of doing stuff for themselves.”
The Red Bus Project works with college students to give them the opportunity to intern and go on college tours with the bus.
“The culture of the Red Bus Project is full of joy and compassion and when you step on the bus, you know that these people are striving for something greater,” Holder said.