Charity begins at home. This year, the Associated Students of Las Positas College (ASLPC) adopted that philosophy. Cherry Bogue, Nico Portugal and Kris Adhikari have been spearheading ASLPC donations around campus. While continuing on their main goal of helping students, ASLPC has been increasingly charitable this year.
Every day, the members of ASLPC hold office hours in the portable behind the bookstore. There, they meet with students, hand out scantrons and discuss how to get students more involved in campus politics.
According to its mission statement, ASLPC is “committed to promoting student success and providing an atmosphere for better learning and personal growth.” One way the ASLPC has helped students was initiating the Textbook Loaner Program.
This year, ASLPC added another book to the Textbook Loaner Program, bringing the total up to three. Now, there is a plan to increase the textbook rental from three books to four. Having been around since 2009, the Textbook Loaner Program started out with two books and was just upped to three this year.
“We used to only offer two,” said Bogue, ASLPC President. “We had many students coming in who expressed how much better it would be if they could get three.”
“Currently, we are working on expanding it,” Portugal, Inter-club Council Chair added. “We’re also working on offering a scholarship for students who can’t afford books.”
Student Trustee Adhikari mentioned at a recent board meeting the efforts put forth by the student government.
“With the increase to the student fees, we were able to expand our budget for donations to campus groups,” Adhikari said. “While most of campus was losing funds, we were able to support them by donating to their events. We wanted the students to know we are behind them. “
This has been a big year for campus groups in terms of donations. Receiving the approval from ASLPC has meant more than an influx of funds.
On Feb. 1, ASLPC was deciding how much they would donate to the Coaches Vs. Cancer event. The meeting’s minutes showed a big change from the original donation amount. They were planning to donate up to $400 at $2 per basket, when it was brought up that they still had money available to donate.
When it was all settled, they had decided on $5 per basket and had up to $1,200 to donate. The final tally ended up being $665.
“It was a classy move on their part,” men’s basketball coach Tony Costello said. “For them to reach out and participate and donate like they did shows that they have good hearts.”
The charitable contributions didn’t stop there. This year, ASLPC stepped up in their support for the arts. In the fall, ASLPC bought an advertisement in “Naked” magazine. The LPC anthology class also received a $500 donation.
“We feel very grateful to them,” Anthology Editor in Chief Osama Ansari said. “They have a national standing, so to receive the support from an organization like that on campus means a great deal to us.”
The presence will be felt for the coming semesters. “It comes down to what do the students need and what can we do to make it easier for them,” Bogue said.