Few students know what the “UCLA in L.A.” initiative
is, but most are aware of the numerous UCLA volunteering programs
which continue to have a significant impact on the community.
Volunteering programs sponsored by both USAC and individual
student groups have thousands of volunteers, each catering to
different needs in different communities.
UCLA students participate in outreach programs that range from
hunger relief and health education to mentorship and tutoring.
Suzanne Yu, USAC community service commissioner, said she
believes a large percentage of UCLA students volunteer in some
way.
She estimates there are over 2,000 active student volunteers in
the Community Service Commission alone.
Yu said she thinks many students volunteer within their own
communities.
“Students who come from or identify with certain
communities feel a need to give back to those communities,”
she said.
One of these groups is Pilipinos for Community Health, which
works with the Pilipino Recruitment and Enrichment Program to
mentor high school students on health and academic issues.
Art Ambrosio, a director of the program, said the resources they
provide would have been helpful for his own peers in high
school.
“The program shows people that we haven’t forgotten
the neighborhoods we come from,” he said.
The largest program under CSC is Project Literacy, which brings
UCLA volunteers to various libraries to help children and adults
learn to read.
Volunteer Matt Nguyen, who works with children at the Watts
Public Library site, said he joined the program because he wanted
to help those less privileged.
Nguyen said the child he teaches to read has significantly
improved.
“Working with him has been the most satisfying experience
I’ve had at UCLA,” he said.
While Nguyen said volunteering at UCLA is not uncommon, he
thinks it is not common enough.
“It is vitally important (for students) to
volunteer,” he said. “Students need to realize there is
a world beyond their own bubble.”
Unicamp, the official charity of UCLA and the Associated
Students of UCLA, runs entirely on private donations and student
volunteers.
Founded by 11 UCLA students in 1935, the camp brings children
who are at or below the poverty line to a camp in the San
Bernardino mountains where UCLA students serve as counselors.
Camp Executive Director Wally Wirick explained that
Unicamp’s success derives from combining ambitious students
with children who are lost in the system.
“When you put the two together, a kind of magic
happens,” he said.
A few former Unicampers have even become UCLA students. Susi
Rodriguez Shapiro, a recent UCLA graduate, attended the camp at age
10 in 1963.
For Shapiro, Unicamp was one of her first opportunities out of
her neighborhood in Venice.
“I found out there was a bigger world out there and I
wanted to be part of it,” she said. “It launched me
into thinking I can do things.”
Upon arriving at UCLA at the age of 42, she discovered that her
Unicamp counselors had been UCLA students.
“Before then,” she said, “I never knew where
these angel people came from.”
Shapiro said Unicamp was an invaluable experience for any inner
city kid.
“Tell those students to keep volunteering because it
really does make a difference for a lifetime,” she added.