ANNA KING
Assistant News Editor
With the help of Seaver faculty and staff, a group of five students from the group Pepperdine Acting on AIDS were able to transport 5,000 pounds of food to Project Angel Food Saturday. The Los Angeles organization works with donations from the community in order to provide relief for those suffering from the HIV and AIDS virus.
The donation by the Pepperdine group was made possible through the efforts of students during the recent AIDS awareness week on campus, which featured a series of events that brought information and action to the student body in response to the world-wide epidemic. During the week, students were asked to donate their cafeteria points in order to aid those who are infected by the virus in the local community.
“They were just about ready to put in an order for new supplies when Lindsay Joiner, the student director of the Acting on AIDS group, called them for a list of things that they needed on a regular basis,” said student volunteer Dustin Long. “I think that when they thought of college students they were expecting things like 100 cans of baby peaches or lots of grocery type stuff, but when they saw the truckload of bulk foods, like beans, flour, basic cooking supplies, they were amazed.”
The students were able to collect about 12,400 cafeteria points from the student body; enough to purchase three pallets of food that were estimated to weigh a total of 5,000 pounds.
“The leaders and volunteers of Acting on AIDS were really excited that they had gotten that much,” said Stephanie Cupp, staff sponsor of the Acting on AIDS group. “When they actually saw the food and the amount that there was that morning, they were shocked.”
Due to the unexpectedly large amount of food that the group was able to purchase, they also had to figure out how to transport everything under short notice from Malibu to the Los Angeles location.
“We worked out a deal with Allen Nelson, Brian Mudge and Bruce Pistole, who were there in the morning with a big Pepperdine transportation truck,” Long said. “We were going to try and jam it in a bunch of cars or use a trailer, but they drove the truck down to Angel Food on their way to the Pepperdine storage facilities and we met them there at Angel Food and helped them unload everything.”
Paul Long, dean of Admission and Enrollment Management, who helped organize the transportation of the food, said he often learns by accident all of the things that so many Pepperdine students, faculty and staff do for others in need.
“As in this case, where students took all this food to the Angel Food organization, and in so many other instances where our students serve others, I think this is a wonderful reflection on Pepperdine,” said Long. “The Angel Food people called me and said that ‘They were overwhelmed by these students’ generosity and spirit of giving.’ This sure made me proud of our students and the university.”
The involvement during the AIDS awareness week was able to raise additional funds for various organizations that support those affected by AIDS.
“We were really amazed by the response and impressed by how much the students and faculty were willing to participate and help with the cause,” said Kelley Charlston, co-director of the Pepperdine Acting on AIDS student group, about the AIDS week participation.
The $3,000 that was collected during Convocation and throughout the AIDS awareness week in the Cafeteria was put toward the Wishing Well initiative to build a well in Africa. Through additional fundraising this and next semester, the Pepperdine Acting on AIDS group hopes to raise a total of $10,000 in order to not only build a well, but also send a team of students to do the actual construction.
“For next year, as of right now, the team is just dreaming up new ideas and really praying as to what to do to help further,” Charlston said.
04-13-2006