More than a thousand volunteers lend their time for various causes in the greater Los Angeles area Saturday.
KATE SCHWARTZ
Staff Writer
Paul Clark/Photo Editor
On Sept. 9th Pepperdine students continued a tradition of service to impact neighboring communities. From Ventura to Los Angeles County 1,300 students, staff, faculty and alumni participated in the 18th annual Step Forward Day.
This year, Pepperdine students and alumni contributed 3,900 combined hours at over 50 sites in the surrounding areas. Alumni volunteered in Seattle, Denver, Washington DC, San Francisco, along with other county chapters.
The day began at 7 a.m., where breakfast was served and prizes such as gift certificates to Dukes and Malibu Yogurt were raffled. It concluded with a Volunteer Fair and Carl’s Jr., as student arrived back on campus in the afternoon.
Senior Leslie Branch and junior Jackie Zampella, the student coordinators for Step Forward Day, gave a motivational speech on the field as they introduced Dorothy Lucy, this year’s celebrity speaker. Lucy is an anchor on the Fox show “Good Morning LA” and has appeared on the Fox drama “Nip/Tuck.”
“The times that I felt most close to God were the times I was a volunteer,” Lucy said in her speech. “It’s wonderful to see all you students out here making an effort.”
Volunteer sites included locations from Malibu Presbyterian Church to Skid Row and downtown Los Angeles. Freshman Kelsie Pendley served at the L.A. Dream Center.
“It was amazing to see the difference that a 45-minute drive can make,” Pendley said. “One minute I was in Malibu and then the next minute it looked like a Third World country.”
Kelli Carter, a staff member at The Dream Center, had many positive things to say about Pepperdine’s participation.
“Pepperdine students have been coming to the Dream Center for about three or four years now,” Carter said. “ I have never seen a group of students to generous and genuine.”
The Dream Center performs various outreach programs to communities in L.A. It houses about 850 interns, staff, members and local residents in need of emergency housing. Daniela Peterson, an intern at the Dream Center from Sweden, has been coming volunteering in Los Angeles a few months a year for the past three years.
“We also reach out to the homeless youth, transgender individuals and prostitutes,” Peterson said. “The best thing for these people, though, is to see young students willing so help. It is really neat to see what Pepperdine is doing here.”
While some groups ventured as far as downtown Los Angeles, others stayed right here in Malibu.
Sophomore Julian Tooma, who served close by at Malibu Presbyterian, said “volunteering is fulfilling no matter where you serve.” Step Forward Day was not only about serving those in obvious need.
Ashley Nolan, a staff member at the Pepperdine Volunteer Center, named organizations such as World Impact, School on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity that were involved in this year’s Step Forward Day.
Some students said that while they enjoyed volunteering, they said Step Forward Day was much longer than needed, and perhaps even poorly executed.
Sloan Staley, another Pepperdine freshman and first-time participant in Step Forward Day said time was not well spent.
“It seemed like we drove for a long time,” Staley said. “By the time we got everything off the bus and settled at our location, we only had about an hour to knock on a hundred doors.”
Even with time restraints, Branch said she believed the effort was worthwhile.
“Pepperdine makes the most impact on its community through Step Forward Day,” Branch said. “It’s fun, a great way to get involved and really makes a difference.”
09-14-2006