Tent City Gets The Gift of Light From Rawls College Saturday
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: October 26, 2012
The Texas Tech Rawls College of Business is using their knowledge for some good today, giving the residents of tent city the gift of light.
The project started when Terry McInturff and his students partnered with the Light Up the World Foundation to help bring lights to the people of Peru, but quickly realized they could do some good a lot closer to home.
"We started looking around the city and decided Lubbock was in need of a world energy project," McInturff. "Because poverty isn't limited to third world countries."
Students raised money with the help of local businesses and were able to fund the $7,000 it took to buy the 15 panels that are being installed Saturday.
McInturff said he wanted to teach his students how important the energy business is to the well being of the world.
"I think the world in general and even our students who study it," McInturff said. "Are unaware of the ramifications of energy poverty."
Energy poverty is something the residents of tent city are no stranger too.
"Which is huge because that allows light to come into the tent to let them feel comfortable and have more of a home style environment within the tents," Burrus said.
Les Burrus with Link Ministries, the group in charge of tent city, says the residents have been helping dig holes and install the solar panels and they are happy to do it.
"Thats one of our goals that anything that comes out here our residents they really enjoy helping it makes it their own," Burrus said. "When they do that, they take better care of it, they take pride in it, because this has become a community within itself in Lubbock and they take care of each other. That's what community is all about."
McInturff said he and his students will continue to work with tent city as they continue to grow.
"We're lighting thirty tents now," McInturff said. "The plan for tent city is to add thirty more tents and when they do that well certainly look at lighting those also."
Volunteers can learn more about energy commerce and help install the new solar panels tomorrow morning at 10 at Tent City on the corner of 13th and Avenue A.
