As Latin Club president, Greta Markey ’18 knew she wanted to contribute something to the community during the previous holiday season. She started LT’s first Toga Drive in an effort to collect sheets, which symbolize traditional togas, for the local BEDS Plus program.

“I feel like a lot of clubs don’t really do that much to give back for the sake of giving back to the community,” Markey said. “I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and use the resources I have, being one of the leaders of Latin Club, to reach out to people who are able to give back.”

The BEDS Plus program is a program stationed in LaGrange and other areas throughout west suburban Chicago that are committed to assisting and sheltering the homeless. It relies heavily on donations and volunteers to provide a safe place to sleep, homemade meals, counseling and job services.

“The mission of BEDS Plus is to help stabilize the lives of vulnerable individuals through housing and supportive services,” Executive Director of the BEDS Plus program Tina Rounds said.

After getting approval from Peter Geddeis, director of student activities, as well as all her other Latin Club members, Markey began promoting the Toga Drive. The mission was to collect any new or gently used pillow cases and fitted or loose twin bed sheets.

“Since it is the winter and it is colder out they have a lot more people coming in and using their facilities so they need more supplies for bedding. It really helps if the supplies come from donations instead of them having to buy them,” Markey said.

The drive was extremely successful, as Latin Club also partnered with Greek Club to expand their donation base. After promoting the drive throughout the weeks leading up to winter break, the drive concluded with 20 donations.

“BEDS Plus will use the donated sheets at our emergency overnight shelter beds,” Rounds said. “The LaGrange area shelters see between 25-35 people each night, so we use lots of sheets. We always need twin sheets.”

After a successful trial run for the drive, Markey plans on continuing it next year and hopefully years beyond in order to keep people involved and make them more aware of real world struggles.

“It will obviously help with that organization but I also want this to keep going throughout the years of Latin Club because homelessness is a problem that will not go away,” Markey said. “It’s good to get it started so even when I’m graduated we can continue the Toga drive and continue these charitable acts.”

To donate to the BEDS Plus program, please visit www.beds-plus.org.