THE TUFTS DAILY Est

Where You Mostly Sunny Read It First 40/23 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 57 THURsday, DECEMBER 4, 2014 TUFTSDAILY.COM Crafts Center receives TCU grant to invest in future by Arin Kerstein have an opportunity to be trained and Contributing Writer safely use the equipment. “[The center is] buying all of this The Crafts Center received $6,718.20 new, expensive equipment and over- in additional funding from the Tufts hauling [the] center from [its] basic Community Union (TCU) Senate on Nov. mission as a free space where members 9 to overhaul its supplies for the remain- of the community can come together der of the academic year. The managers to create and learn, into a more [struc- of the center hope to use this grant to tured] format of that with more oppor- ensure the sustainable, long-term exis- tunities for people to go from a basic tence of the center at Tufts. level of knowledge to a higher under- Junior Charlie Wiebe, one of the man- standing,” Lusardo said. agers of the Crafts Center, explained Wiebe said he hopes to transition into that the center has an annual operat- online training, whereby students could ing budget of $5,200 and requests sup- be certified and sign a code of conduct plementary budget grants throughout online and then be allowed to use equip- the year based on specific needs. He ment based on a tag to their student explained that this year, he and sopho- identification number. more Miller Schulman, another manager The Senate used to fund a coordi- of the Crafts Center, are focusing on gen- nator for the Center, and the center eral improvement projects and capital has since struggled without it, accord- investment for the future of the center. ing to Lusardo. He said that hav- Former Crafts Center manager Nick ing Assistant Professor of Education Ben Lusardo (LA ’14) said that he, Schulman Shapiro come on board as faculty advi- and Wiebe last month approached sor last year has been a step in the right the TCU Allocations Board with a EMMA KINDIG / THE TUFTS DAILY direction toward increased continuity proposal for the financing of over 20 Nick Lusardo demonstrates how to use the Craft Center’s new 3D printer, which was bought and sustainability for the center. new items, including an air filtration with money the center recently received from TCU Senate. “We’ve seen a huge growth in use and system in the wood shop, an etching participation in [the] center by a variety press, a heavy duty sewing machine and ble, heavy-duty, cost-effective,” he said. itself was kind of falling apart,” he said. of clubs, individuals, engineers — all a Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting “We wanted to get out of the cycle of “It was really poorly managed, it was kinds of folks from the school,” he said. machine. buying cheap supplies more often.” really unorganized, there was a lot of Shapiro said he is excited to see the The request, which was for over According to Wiebe, supplies are being theft, a lot of safety issues. That’s a liabil- grant come to life. $7,000, included an itemized budget and purchased and installed incrementally. ity issue, and in my experience, this is a “I think [the grant] will have a few a timeline for purchases, he said. Lusardo added that he plans to work very important thing for the school to impacts,” he said. “First, enabling the “We wanted to do a total update of on these changes throughout winter have for the students.” Crafts Center to continue to be a great the entire center,” Lusardo said. “That break in time for a grand reopening Lusardo noted that when he took on resource for Tufts students, but also includes use policies, certification pro- of the center in either late January or the role of manager, he wanted to make enabling them to explore new kinds of cesses to use specialized equipment [and] early February next year to showcase it his priority to improve the overall func- workshops and materials.” reorganization of the various sections.” its updates. All of the material purchas- tionality and accessibility of the center. If the trend of increased use of the After doing a master inventory es are scheduled to be installed by the Wiebe and Lusardo both emphasized center continues, Lusardo added, they of everything in the center, the man- end of the academic year. a shift to more informed usage of the might ask for an increase in their budget agers looked at what items could be According to Lusardo, this grant has Crafts Center throughout next year. next year. fixed and what things they wanted to been a step in the overall process of Wiebe said he is currently developing a “I think that makes sense, given that purchase anew, Lusardo explained. increasing continuity for the Crafts Center. curriculum, new policies, a training pro- if this is a space that students enjoy and “[We wanted to make] sure that we “When I became involved in Crafts cedure and safety guidelines for sections get a lot of use out of, it’s important,” were purchasing things that were dura- Center my sophomore year, the center at the Crafts Center, so that all students he said. ExCollege class hosts Basic Needs Drive for homeless youth by Safiya Nanji “We worked with local homeless concerned, this is a short term project cation, poverty, homelessness and Contributing Writer youth at Bridge Over Troubled Waters to that will benefit the Tufts community youth, and from there narrowed down create a mural, which served as a visual and the organizations,” she said. the focus of their charitable efforts to JumboDreams, a philanthropic group awareness campaign for the kids of the Luck added that she enjoyed working homeless youth. created by the fall 2014 Experimental organization,” Luck said. “Tufts students with her classmates and receiving sup- “We started with talking about what College class “EXP 46: Philanthropy, were able to show their support for the port from the Tufts student community. we valued as a class, what issues we were Nonprofits, and Community,” raised over youth by putting their handprint or sign- “I think [the class was] brought passionate about, and the values we had $1,250 from its Basic Needs Drive which ing their name on a poster, which we together by a communal interest in giv- for organizations,” McDaniel said. took place from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21 during then returned to the organization, along ing back, and we’ve all bonded over the “The idea of being on a student board November’s National Homeless Youth with all the goods that we raised.” course of this semester’s journey and our with the ability to actually give real fund- Awareness Month. JumboDreams raised both money and work together,” she said. “I’d love to con- ing to local nonprofits seemed like an Funds raised from the drive will goods, according to Luck. The items tinue to work together with the group in incredible hands-on way to learn about benefit the AIDS Action Committee of collected ranged from hygiene prod- the future.” the sector and get involved in the com- Massachusetts’ Youth on Fire program ucts to clothing, and a comprehensive Lippe explained that the class is unique munity,” Luck said. and Bridge Over Troubled Waters, orga- list of what could potentially be donat- in that students work as a foundation Lippe, who has now taught the class nizations dedicated to helping local ed was available to view on the cam- board to award $25,000 — a donation for four semesters, has a straightfor- homeless youth, according to seniors paign’s Facebook event page, McDaniel from Trustee Emeritus Nathan Gantcher ward goal for the class: She wants stu- Anneliese Luck and Julia McDaniel and explained. — to local nonprofit organizations. dents to learn that everyone can be first-year Gabriela Bonfiglio, all of “We focused on hygiene products,” The class made their final decision a philanthropist. Hopefully, this effort whom spearheaded the community ser- she said. “We got a lot of deodorant last night to award varying amounts will spark a desire to make the practice vice project for the class. and things like that, [and] also warm of the grant to the Phillips Brooks of philanthropy, at some level, a lifelong Nancy Lippe, the program director of socks and hand warmers. But given House Association Youth Housing passion, she said. Musketaquid Arts & Environment at The that we were catering towards col- Initiative, Casa Myrna, Rediscovery’s “In the class, students learn about the Umbrella Community Arts Center, said lege students that don’t have the time YouthHarbors, the Somerville Homeless broad spectrum of philanthropic activ- that the three students took the drive to to donate items, we focused more on Coalition, Bridge Over Troubled Waters ity, nonprofit best practices and project a whole new level and helped the class to receiving online donations [through and Youth on Fire, according to Lippe, management and methods of assess- exceed the goals they had established for GoFundMe] so that we could go buy who added that the students chose from ment,” she said. “This process of func- themselves. these items in bulk.” 11 potential grant applications. tioning as a foundation board involves “All of our expectations were exceeded McDaniel noted that she has seen some “Every semester the students amaze writing a mission statement, crafting a by not only the generosity of our donors interest in keeping the project going. me with their insight, motivation, cre- request for proposals and developing a but also by the interest that [Tufts] stu- “Some students on campus ativity and commitment to making the rubric for scoring grant applications … dents had in the issue,” McDaniel said.

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