GW F.E.E.D., an initiative started in the fall dedicated to feeding D.C.’s homeless, is becoming an official student organization this semester.

Despite the financial hardships that plagued this initiative when it began in September, Student Association Sen. O.G. Oyiborhoro (CCAS-U) said he felt the initiative was successful enough to turn into a student organization.

The holiday canned food drive GW F.E.E.D. organized last semester collected more than 1,500 pounds of food for the homeless, Oyiborhoro said. He said he wants to continue to collect food for the homeless again in January by working together with Starbucks.

“GW F.E.E.D. is for a bunch of students interested in community service,” Oyiborhoro said.

Not only is GW F.E.E.D. going to continue its efforts to feed the D.C. homeless community, but it will also include “Stop the Hate ’08,” Oyiborhoro’s campaign to try to unify the student body and prevent acts or instances of racism on campus. Oyiborhoro said that a Stop the Hate black and white poster campaign would be released at the beginning of the spring semester.

“It will tell a story about unity on campus and that is what I am trying to promote,” he said.

Additionally, Oyiborhoro said he is trying to get legislation passed in the SA senate that would make GW F.E.E.D. the official philanthropy initiative of the student life committee, which Oyiborhoro also leads.

“It is important for the student life committee to be charged with heading an important philanthropy initiative at the beginning of the academic year,” Oyiborhoro wrote in the resolution. “This initiative gives senators as well as fellow Colonials the opportunity to indulge in community service.”

An official philanthropy initiative has never been created within an SA committee, said Sen. Katie Santo (CCAS-G), vice chair of the student life committee. She said making GW F.E.E.D. the official philanthropy initiative of the committee is not only unfair to the members of the committee, but would also require more than a resolution to make it possible.

“This process would require not a senate resolution but an amendment to the by-laws,” Santo said. “By requiring that all future student life committee members focus on a certain initiative, regardless of whether or not they support it, is not only unfair to those members, but also fails to take into account the larger student body electing these representatives.”

The resolution will come before the SA senate at its next meeting Jan. 22.