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Junior agribusiness major Rebecca Cain demonstrates how the Carpool logistics system works Monday at the Schmidt House, Carpool's headquarters. Carpool is a student organization that gives rides to people Thursday through Saturday nights.

Schmidt House serves as headquarters to dispatch CARPOOL members

Rooms in CARPOOL house each have special significance

By: Brooke Lein

Posted: 11/7/08

Students like Jessie Anderson volunteer weekend time to CARPOOL, a student organization that has given more than 100,000 rides to date.

The organization operates out of the Schmidt House, a residential building owned by the Department of Student Activities at Texas A&M.

The structure was originally designated as a storage area for campus groups, but was renovated to provide adequate housing space for the University's rapidly expanding designated driving program.

The organization employs Enterprise Rent-A-Car so that the membership does not have to use personal vehicles to drive patrons home.

"We run anywhere between 16 to 29 cars on a night of operation depending on whether it's a football game weekend or just a normal Thursday night," said Anderson, CARPOOL chairwoman and senior political science major.

The Schmidt House has four rooms, each bearing significance in the overall operation of the organization.

The fun room, a large space to the right of the main entrance, is the biggest room in the house. Anderson said members use the room as a place to sit down, hang out and do refreshers.

Refreshers are quick overviews of posters and material containing information on signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning, procedures of CARPOOL and anything members need to remember about the night. There are Mission, Vision and Values signs posted to remind the members of the reason for CARPOOL's existence.

The fun room has a TV with DIRECTV and satellite channels. Anderson said a lot of members lounge on the couch to watch football games and movies from an old collection of VHS tapes.

A calendar on the wall displays the organization's upcoming events. There are typically 40 to 75 members working for CARPOOL on a night of operation.

The dining room, a small space adjacent to the fun room, contains a rectangular wooden table occupied by donated food items from local restaurants.

"Food is donated by sponsors every single week," Anderson said. "Boston's, Fazoli's, Domino's, Double Dave's, Layne's, Chicken Express and others are major donors to CARPOOL."

Everything from food to furniture in the Schmidt House has been donated. The Department of Student Activities, former carpool members and patrons from the community contribute to the organization.

"[CARPOOL] is limited only by the funds, not drive or dedication," said Cynthia Olvera, adviser to CARPOOL.

Members arrive at the location between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Executive officers in the group arrive by 8:30 p.m., and directors show up by 8 p.m. CARPOOL starts accepting calls at 10 p.m. and stops at 3 a.m.

"We take home everyone that's on our list by 3 a.m.," Anderson said. "So we could be operating as late as 5:30 in the morning before all of the cars get back."

The next room in the house is affectionately referred to as "the fun-fun room," and contains the logistical items necessary to make each ride successful and efficient.

In addition to a second TV, the walls of this room contain 25 "car kits," or separate packages that are taken by drivers during each ride. Anderson said that up to 29 cars might run each night and. Aside from the 25 kits on the wall, there are extra emergency kits on the side.

Each car kit contains a cell phone with service donated by AT&T to call patrons on arrival. There is a "pink kit," which is actually a lime green color, that includes trash bags for vomit, flashlights, latex gloves, band-aids, change and a sign that reads, "Donations Accepted."

Each kit has a clipboard for recording the name of the patron, the time picked up and the time dropped off during each ride. A legal agreement must be presented to each patron, as well as a paragraph describing CARPOOL's purpose. Anderson said the information in the clipboard is kept confidential.

Every patron that takes CARPOOL gets a receipt so they know CARPOOL took them home in case they forget. The receipt includes information on where the patron's car is if they need to get it and a list of the symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

Down the hall from the fun-fun room is the phone room. In this area, five different dispatchers sit at laptops, taking calls and preserving records.

There are two incoming phone lines for receiving calls, and a program that was written by a former member requires each dispatcher to enter each patron's information into the system. The computer logs the time of each call, and each member must enter in the patron's location and the desired destination.

The data from the computer goes into the CARPOOL network, where rides are prioritized based on the time of each call. After rides are put in order, each member present is assigned a car, and the patron will be picked up.

The Director in Charge, or the DIC, sits at one of the laptops and fills out a nightly director report as the evening concludes. These reports are summaries of the night's incidents, and may include instances of a patron throwing up or cars that are taken into undesignated areas.

Records are kept in a locked cabinet that contains the nightly director reports as well as all donations made to the organization.

Members of CARPOOL plan to update the decorations and overall appearance of the Schmidt House in the future.

"We have several improvements we want to do," said Director of Member Relations for CARPOOL Lauren Needham, a junior biology and education major. "We have a sponsor that is donating carpet to us, but we need someone to install it. Also, the walls are pretty bland, so we're thinking about painting the walls lime green and some bright colors because when you're here until 4 a.m., you definitely want a bright, fun atmosphere to keep you awake."

CARPOOL is looking at the possibility of putting up a fence in the property surrounding the Schmidt House to increase positive relations with the neighbors.

"None of our members are aloud to speak when they're outside early in the morning because, as you can imagine, 75 college students walking to their cars at 4 in the morning if they talk even in a whisper, it can get loud," Anderson said. "We're always looking at ways to improve our relationships with the neighbors because we are here for them and for everyone."