FREEDOM is a group with a different kind of vision. The ‘non-hierarchical’ group works with its members to improve community relationships through service based trips and creative projects. ‘We don’t have a mission statement,’ said member Jason Hartigan. ‘We’re pretty much against them.’ ‘We decided to work outside of the hierarchical system because everything seems to be run on that it does not seem to always work out,’ said member Reise Sample. ‘You can’t tell a community what to do or what they want.’ FREEDOM grew out of cultural immersion trips which they sponsored over the past two years to the South Bronx and to a Navaho reservation. The goal is to bring back the scene of community involvement and commitment from the trips to the Bowling Green community Hartigan said. ‘The trips are really our way of becoming involved and then bringing that sense of involvement back for those who did not go,’ Hartigan said. FREEDOM currently hosts an after school program for teenagers and is building a community garden in the city. ‘We see problems in our community and we want to see what can do about them,’ said Junior Kristi Rhoads. FREEDOM, along with the University’s transgender organization, Transcendence, organized a rally to protest University Dining Service’s decision to end meal plan rollover last spring. The UCF building, which is located across from Sorority row, has been transformed into Freedom’s headquarters. The building, which was built in 1965, has always served as something of a community center for students, art work is hung and for sale, and the basement is sometimes converted into a concert venue where local bands play. The center also serves as a ‘community clothes closet’ where anyone who is in need can browse through piles of donated clothes come take what they want. ‘You learn a lot about yourself when you help the community and you try to get what you want to see happen get done,’ Sample said. ‘We really get to see the power of the community coming together.’