This Friday evening from 4-7 p.m., The Center for Healing and Hope (CHH) will offer Goshen Resident Identification (GRID) Cards to Goshen College students at a discounted price at Java Junction.

CHH is taking off $5 off of each card, and Student Senate is taking off an additional $5, bringing the card’s price to $15 per student.

Students can pay the full $20 so that the additional $5 goes to support the Center for Healing and Hope.

There are three requirements in order for a Goshen student to receive a GRID card.

First, a student will need either a passport, a driver’s license from any country, an ID card from any country, a Consular Identification card, or a Voter registration card.

Second, a student will need to bring either a birth certificate, EBT card, Social Security card, marriage or divorce certificate or income tax return forms.

Lastly, a Goshen student should bring their Goshen Student ID as a way of showing that they are a Goshen City resident.

At the event, students will be required to fill out a form for the card and have their picture and height taken.

The students should receive the card in the mail a few weeks after registering.

Students who register for the card will receive a coupon for a free drink from Java Junction, as well as 15 percent off at The Electric Brew and 30% off at Jojo’s pretzels.

The Latino Student Union (LSU) were the ones who first started the idea of making the GRID cards more accessible to Goshen College Students.

“This semester LSU been really working toward trying to make sure that we are being not just a role for the campus, but also reaching out to the wider community,” said Elijah Lora, LSU president.

In an effort to do so, LSU called Richard Aguirre about providing the GRID cards to Goshen College students.

Lora then represented LSU by proposing the idea to Student Senate.

Aguirre then came in and explained the GRID cards to student senate and they looked at a way “not just to make it an event on campus, [but] to make it an event accessible to students on campus,” said Lora.

This GRID card is one way the LSU thought would help involve Goshen students in the community beyond the campus’ boundaries.

The main purpose of the GRID card is to provide a type of ID for those who cannot as easily access one.

“The goshen ID card provides a way for residents of Goshen to have an identification that helps them do things that we don’t even think about…, like cashing checks. Like going into a school…Like proving who you are if you’re stopped by police,” said Aguirre. “And we’re asking citizens to also get the card because we don’t what this to only be identified… with undocumented people.”

Another way that students of Goshen College can support the wider community around them is by registering to vote this Thursday and Friday.

Nat Dick, Student Senate club liaison, said that the main goal of the voter registration event “is wanting GC students to be involved in the greater Goshen, the city of Goshen [and] Elkhart County community.”

All student need to bring to the event will be their Indiana driver’s license or if they are from out of state, the last four numbers of their social security number.

This event will also be held in Java Junction starting Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.