Haven for the intoxicated

Bea Gomez (above) and Anna Krausnick, co-directors of Safe Rides, keep busy running the operation from their small office on the first floor of the University Union. Dominick Porras/State Hornet

There aren't too many people who want to get a phone call from you when you're a babbling drunk. But, Associated Student Inc.'s Safe Rides program eagerly awaits your drunken call every weekend. They want to make sure you get home safely instead of driving while intoxicated.

Who ever said CSUS doesn't take care of students' needs?

Operating out of an office the size of a walk-in closet, Safe Rides is located next to the campus radio station, KSSU.

The program provides rides home Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Safe Rides is staffed by volunteers -- usually members of campus clubs and organizations.

Co-directors Anna Krausnick, Bea Gomez, and volunteer assistant Carrie Carone run the operation. They answer phones and schedule appointments for potential volunteers.

Formerly called Greek Rides, Safe Rides was once operated by campus fraternities. It later became an ASI program that offered campus organizations the chance to earn community service hours.

Gomez, who has been involved with Safe Rides for a year, said volunteers are asked to donate one or two nights of their time per semester.

At the beginning of each semester, volunteer packets are sent out to more than 200 campus organizations. Of those, Gomez said about 15-20 actually respond.

To volunteer, a group needs eight to 10 people who will participate. Volunteers use their own vehicles and are reimbursed for mileage.

Every car that goes out from Safe Rides has two people, a male and a female. One person acts as a driver and the other a navigator. Cars are sent out with a safety kit including instruments such as a flashlight, maps, and "a big barf bucket," according to Gomez.

"The worst thing volunteers encounter is people throwing up, which has only happened two times this semester and only four times in the history of Safe Rides. Two of those instances happened to the same person," said Gomez.

Krausnick, formerly with Green Thunder, a campus spirit club, started volunteering for Safe Rides in August.

"The intoxicated students think you're their bartender and they want to pour their hearts out to you, and you just want them to be articulate enough to give you directions to their house," said Krausnick.

Gomez said that for safety and timeliness, their boundaries are Old Sacramento to the west, Mather Field Road to the east, William Land Park to the south, and 80 East at Arden to the north.

However, Gomez said they will make exceptions if a particular event is coming up and Safe Rides is informed one to two weeks in advance of the need for rides.

If an individual calls needing a ride outside the boundaries, they will give them the number to a taxi service, or if it's a slow night, the manager on duty can decide to send a car out.

Gomez, Krausnick and Carone all emphasized that volunteering for Safe Rides is not only a nice thing to do, but it's fun.

"You get paired with a fraternity for five hours. You get to play games, eat pizza and go out on pick-ups. Safe Rides is how I met my best friend," said Carone, whose sorority, Alpha Chi Omega often volunteers.

The Safe Rides office boasts several sofas, a TV, VCR and a Nintendo game system for volunteers to enjoy.

One of the programs biggest problems is too few volunteers, particularly from Greek organizations.

"We get calls from everybody but the majority of the callers are affiliated with a Greek organization. We want to be there for them but they have to be there for us," said Gomez.

Krausnick and Gomez, both members of the Greek system, make sure their organizations, Lambda Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Chi Omega volunteer time.

"My fraternity has worked nonstop this semester," said Krausnick.

Safe Rides volunteers said they want students to be aware of their services.

"We'd like to ask any student on campus what our number is and have them know it, and what Safe Rides' purpose is," said Krausnick. "We'd like the organizations to know how much fun it is to work with Safe Rides."

The number to volunteer for Safe Rides is 278-7923. For a ride call (800) GO-4-CSUS.