With $31,000 in its pocket, Religious Life Council receives the second-highest budget allotment from SGA, topped only by CAB. According to members of the group, the money is well-spent.

“We make incredibly good use with the money we get,” said Angela Gafford, chaplain and director of RLC. “We are a very conscious of being good stewards.”

Seven student chaplains oversee the areas of worship, outreach, discipleship, fellowship, communications, service and interfaith. RLC’s budget is divided among these seven areas.

Some uses of the total budget include materials for Bible study, transportation, six spring break trips, gas for service transportation, T-shirts for the student body and retreats held in the fall and spring.

According to Gafford, there are 44 programs within the seven areas, and in dividing the total budget each program gets an average of $700.

According to junior RLC president Kat Fenneman, “a pretty big chunk of money goes to the service programs.”

Among these service programs are the Breakfast Club, Shalom Zone, Catholic Worker House, Habitat for Humanity and Spring Break trips.

“We are not just trying to pull off one weekly thing with this money,” Gafford said.

The RLC budget is proposed to SGA every spring, and each year the budget request rises to fit the needs of the upcoming activities.

“In the future, the Christian Concert Committee may require more money, depending on how well that goes over,” Fenneman said. “I could definitely see that as an area to expand on next year.”

RLC expands its programs every year, sometimes before the budget proposal and often after.

“The main thing now is the new literacy program, it was not in the budget, so we are trying to find money that we have overestimated in different groups to go towards starting this program,” said Tiffany Rink, Student Chaplain of Service.

With the money it is given, RLC strives to give back to the campus.

“We really hope that what we are doing meets the needs of the students,” Fenneman said.