STRIPES received more than a card for its 10th birthday this year.

The Wellness Resource Center hosted a recognition ceremony for STRIPES at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the MU Student Center’s Traditions Lounge. Wellness Resource Center Director Kim Dude gave STRIPES a plaque honoring both its recent accomplishments and its continued service to the Columbia community.

“Just to be recognized and have our accomplishments being noticed is amazing,” STRIPES Director Jeri Pautler said.

In another effort to celebrate STRIPES’s achievements, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Jeff Zeilenga emailed STRIPES and MSA executives Thursday, announcing Student Auxiliary Services would donate more than $14,000 to STRIPES. Zeilenga also stated Student Auxiliary Services would continue to provide STRIPES’s space and cover its utility expenses free of charge.

Pautler, whom Zeilenga told about the donation Tuesday, said she was surprised at both the donation and its amount.

“I was not expecting this at all,” Pautler said. “When Dr. Zeilenga told me in person, I was really taken aback.”

The money will pay off the remaining balance of the STRIPES House, the organization’s headquarters leased by MU. STRIPES recently purchased new furniture for the house with a Student Fee Capital Improvement Committee grant, as well as repainted, redecorated and expanded its rooms. The building now has about 50 percent more space, holding up to 32 volunteers each night.

Pautler said STRIPES always strives to expand its membership.

“With more members, we can have more cars,” she said.

STRIPES spokesman Andrew Worrall said STRIPES plans to put the extra money toward getting students home safely and expanding the program.

“We’re going to be there to give people safe rides home, make sure all practices are safe and members are safe,” Worrall said. “We’ll hopefully expand to more vehicles and we’re always looking for new ways to innovate in the organization.”

STRIPES recently made technological upgrades to its cars, equipping each one with a smartphone. The service is also available on the goMizzou application for Android mobile devices and will soon be accessible to iPhone users.

Students not only can find the hours STRIPES runs, but can also request a ride directly through the application. If a student does not know where he or she is, the program can use the phone’s GPS capabilities and find the nearest marked address.

STRIPES’s services have greatly evolved since former MSA Director of Student Services Johnny Wang and four others founded the organization Oct. 4, 2001. They modeled MU’s program after Texas A&M’s Caring Aggies R Protecting Over Our Lives, also a student-run organization providing other students with safe rides.

Since its creation, STRIPES has provided more than 100,000 safe rides to students during the fall and spring semesters between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

“We like to think we’ve not only affected their lives, but the lives of other people on the road at the same time,” Worrall said.

Rides are free, confidential and available to MU students and their guests.

“We’re looking out for the safety of students, whether or not they’ve been drinking,” Worrall said. “We’re just giving them a ride home.”

Pautler said she credits STRIPES’s supporters with the program’s success.

“We definitely couldn’t do what we do without support from MSA and the university, both financially and in other ways,” Pautler said. “We couldn’t do this by ourselves.”