Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, April 19, 2002, Page 6B, Image 18

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    CELEBRATE CAKI H PAT
EVERYDAY!
LIVE LIGHTER ON EARTH h»y
responsiMy..practice Fair Trade...choose
organically grown products, energy saving and
earth friendly GOODS, recycled natural items
...for a Peaceful & Sustainable Future !
CLOTHiNC HATS .■< JEWELRY ; COMPACT FLUORESCENT LICHTS
Emerald
Laundromat
Come to the always clean, most energy
efficient laundromat in Lane County.
We’ve installed the best washers ever made with reverse action to provide you
the cleanest, brightest, whitest wash ever! When you want the best wash,
use our coin laundry, our special washers and our dryers!
©
All
front loader machines with
18-50 lb. capacity!
• Don’t be fooled by our
competitors’ single top loader
specials for a $1.00.
Our double loaders are only
$.25 more a cold wash and
$.50 more for warm/hot
washes for double the loads.
• All dryers 250 for 10 minutes
• All Wascomat washers FREE
extra extraction cycle
(normally 250)
Save energy and drying time
165 E. 17th St.
(Behind Safeway & Hirons)
Open: 7am-llpm daily
BIRKENSTOCK
Change the World
One Step at a Time
Repairable shoes from a company
committed to sustainability
FOOTWISE
THE BIRKENSTOCK STORE
181 E Broadway Downtown Eugene 342-6107
Mon-Sat 10-6 and Sun 11-5
Used-clothing store aims
to save free-range buffalo
■ Buffalo Exchange in Eugene
will host a‘Buffalo Benefit’
on Earth Day, selling all
specially tagged items for $1
By Caron Alarab
for the Emerald
Shopping for quality used
clothing while supporting the
preservation of what wasonce the
largest concentration of mammals
ever to exist — what more could
an environmentally motivated
clotheshorse ask for?
On Earth Day, Buffalo Exchange
will be offering bargains on select
ed merchandise in a nationwide
effort to save wild buffalo during
an event called the Buffalo Benefit.
From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 20,
all specially tagged items will sell
for $1 each as a part of the compa
ny’s annual Dollar Day Sale. The
goal is to raise money for a cause
that will support the environment
and help an organization in need,
Eugene store manager Mary
Kolego said.
All proceeds from this year’s
sale will go to the Buffalo Field
Campaign. Through direct action,
videography, education and litiga
tion, BFC volunteers make it the
only nonprofit environmental ac
tivist group working year-round in
the field to protect the last wild,
free-roaming buffalo and their
habitat in Yellowstone National
Park, said Dan Brister.
Brister, a Buffalo Field Cam
paign board member and media
coordinator, first came to the or
ganization as a volunteer and only
planned on staying in West Yel
lowstone for a week.
“Five years later, I’m still here,”
he said.
Part of Brister’s dedication to the
program is rooted in the impor
tance of each effort made by BFC
from day to day.
“Our patrols are with the buffalo
from sunrise to sunset, document
ing every move made against them
and protecting them from the De
partment of Livestock,” he said.
“Our footage has been shown on
the major television networks and
used in countless documentaries.”
According to the BFC Web site,
since 1985, more than 3,000 free
roaming bison have been killed
when they migrated out of Yel
lowstone National Park in search
of food.
When he expresses his appreci
ation of the Buffalo Benefit, Brister
speaks for BFC as a whole.
“We are very grateful to the Buf
falo Exchange for hosting this
event, which will help us to cover
the costs of our campaign to gain
lasting protection for the Yellow
stone herd,” Brister said. “They are
helping to raise awareness of and
financial support for our efforts on
behalf of the last wild herd buffalo
in the country.”
The first Buffalo Exchange
opened in 1974 in Tucson, Ariz. —
now the company headquarters —
and has grown to include 21 stores
and six franchises in 11 states.
Michelle Livingston is the compa
ny’s marketing director and is in
charge of advertising and public
relations, including promotions
such as the Earth Day Benefit,
which has raised more than
$33,000 since the program’s 1997
inception. She views this year’s
cause as not only support for a crit
ical situation, but also as a symbol
of what the company has come to
represent, she said.
“Buffalo Exchange works to pro
tect the environment by reusing
and recycling clothing and
through programs such as the
Earth Day Benefit,” Livingston
said. “And I think that helping
real, wild buffalo strengthens the
authenticity of the company’s
name and what we stand for. ”
This year’s Earth Day Benefit
will be the third Livingston has co
ordinated; she said she remembers
when Buffalo Exchange first dis
covered BFC.
“We supported the Yellow
stone bison for Earth Day 2000,
when we did a fund-raiser for the
National Wildlife Federation,”
she said. “This year we wanted
to help these bison at a more
grass-roots level and help the
Buffalo Field Campaign.”
The Eugene Buffalo Exchange
opened just three years ago, Kolego
said. At last year’s Earth Day Bene
fit, the location raised close to
$500, out of the company-wide to
tal of $11,700, for the American
Society for the Prevention of Cru
elty to Animals to benefit their Na
tional Shelter Outreach program.
“We expect more every year,”
she said.
Buffalo Exchange also donates
to local nonprofit agencies in the
community through the Tokens for
Bags program, which has generat
ed more than $115,000 in dona
tions to hundreds of nonprofit
groups since 1994. Shoppers are
encouraged to accept a token in
stead of a bag for purchases, and,*
in turn, Buffalo Exchange donates
five cents to a charity of the cus
tomer's choice.
As far as this year’s Buffalo Ben
efit, Kolego expressed how crucial
the work of BFC has become and
sees the Dollar Day Sale proceeds
as a small part of what needs to be
done to make a difference for the
herds at Yellowstone.
“I think through education that
situation may someday improve,”
Kolego said.
Information on the Buffalo Field
Campaign is available at each Buf
falo Exchange store, and besides
taking advantage of the Dollar Day
Sale, supporters can sign a petition
to save die country’s last wild herd
of buffalo.
Caron Alarab is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
if ECSWL^lM
If you care about the Earth, or what's left of it, come to the
Survival Center and get active! Learn about how you can
minimize your impact on the Earth, connect with others who
care, change campus policies regarding environmental
issues, or just learn about them. Earn internship credit!
ooocoj|]@^
Food for Thought:
"The earth is not dying, it is being killed;
and those people have names and addresses.'
__Edward Abbey