On Saturday morning, students rose early to scour the sides of highways for garbage as part of Community Service Day, an event organized by the Undergraduate Students Association Council.
The estimated 400 student volunteers chose from a variety of types of community service work in a number of locations around Los Angeles.
“Some of (the centers) had events that were on this day, so we called them to arrange for us to come, and some of them we just regularly do community service for, and we asked them to create an event for us,” said Angela Cheung, USAC assistant Community Service commissioner.
Students were bused in groups to several locations, where they worked at animal shelters, public schools and a number of other locations throughout Los Angeles.
“At Alhambra Convalescent Home, the senior citizens were telling (students) their autobiographies and they made little books of their life stories. A lot of the patients were suffering from strokes, so it was helping them to practice their language retention,” said Stephanie Chang, USAC Community Service commissioner.
Jonathan Chang, a first-year biology student, said the event was a good opportunity to get involved in community service projects that he said he had little time for in high school.
“I worked with Tree Musketeers, a group who basically took care of trees in a city called El Segundo,” he said.
Chang said the work he did was gratifying, especially since he hadn’t had much of a chance to work outdoors with trees and plants, a hobby he said had been important to him at home in San Diego.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to help out with the wildlife here, so it was a really good opportunity,” he said.
Several of the volunteers were present as part of the efforts of larger student groups that contribute regularly to events like these.
“The group of friends I was with were from my business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi. We do two or three community service events per quarter,” said Andrea So, a third-year psychobiology student, who helped with gardening work at a local middle school.
The funding for Community Service Day came from a variety of sources, including the Office of Residential Life, the On Campus Housing Council, Associated Students UCLA and the Assistant Vice Chancellor’s Fund, as well as donations from businesses in Westwood.
Cheung estimated that around $15,000 was accumulated to pay for the event’s expenses, including bus transportation for all volunteers to work sites.
As a reward for all of their help, the volunteers were greeted with a carnival offering free pizza, musical performances and prize raffles in De Neve Plaza when they returned from the various locations where they had worked.
The a cappella groups Awaken and Bruin Harmony performed at the carnival, while prizes such as T-shirts and MP3 players were raffled off.