As a task captain at this year’s Volunteer Day, I was shocked to find that the Daily Bruin editorial board agrees that Volunteer Day is “lacking in depth” in its Sept. 27 editorial. I have to say that I disagree.
Instead, I feel that this day served to not only motivate UCLA newbies to get involved in community service, but that it also illustrated well how the university makes huge efforts to get the community to recognize that there is a lot that UCLA can offer the Greater Los Angeles area.
I served at James Monroe High School in the San Fernando Valley, and it was the largest site, with some 400 participants. Students were amazed to see what could be accomplished in just a couple of hours, and they were more impressed to hear that their two hours of painting not only beautified the grounds but also saved the high school enormous expense. The money can now be directed toward student activities and future programs.
Although there was not much time to interact with members at each site, some exchange was actually done through media channels.
This year, there was continuous feedback from participants via media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.
Not only did this appear to serve as an outlet for participants to share their thoughts in real time, it became a great tool for friends to introduce to one another unfamiliar areas in the city.
Perhaps next year, the university can encourage the community to offer more real-time feedback as well.
All in all, Volunteer Day was an enormous event for all involved, and I’m amazed at how well it was successfully pulled off.
Organizers and participants were committed to completing the huge list of service projects. Surely, this commitment will have a lasting impact on the community.
Sandra Holley is a postdoctoral research scholar at the David Geffen School of Medicine.