Photo courtesy of Chris Silva

In this week’s Community Chest, City on a Hill Press sat down with Chris Silva, a third-year biology student at UCSC and the director of the Student Volunteer Center. Among his many past volunteer positions, Silva has worked for his hometown’s recreation department, Democratic club and high school rotary club. He has also worked with a non-profit organization in downtown Santa Cruz that provides free medical and legal services to low-income families around the area, as well as Global Medical Brigades, which provides free medical and dental services abroad to underprivileged people in Latin American countries.

CHP: When did you first start volunteering?

Silva: Back in high school, my dad
encouraged me to check it out. I used to work for my city as a day camp counselor and then I got involved with the Democratic club and the rotary club, so it’s kind of where I got my start. Originally he wanted me to get involved to diversify myself for college, but then it [turned] into, “Hey, I kind of like doing this.” … I think meeting different people and being able to communicate and have interesting conversations with people is crucial.

CHP: What was the most rewarding experience you’ve had?

Silva: I go to Central America every year through Global Medical Brigade — we do medical and dental volunteering. My dad is a dentist at UCSF and we go to a remote visit and set up shop at different stations where people can be checked out. There’s intake, a waiting room for small children, OBGYN and patient-doctor consultation. There’s also another station for dental cleaning and a pharmacy. We fundraise during the year through various fundraisers like Nite Owl [Cookies] or See’s Candies. I liked my second year [in Honduras] because I knew how the protocols went, so I was able to help other people with their tasks. It’s kind of scary being thrown in a station, especially if you don’t speak Spanish.

CHP: Why do you think volunteering is important?

Silva: I think most people aren’t fortunate [enough] to have an able body, whether they’re sick or they’re incapable of taking care of themselves. The fact that I’m able to do this — I think I should give back. It makes me feel really good, really productive. It’s a great outlet for when you’re studying and you’re stressed out. It just makes you feel good.

CHP: Is there a difference between volunteering and a job?

Silva: Volunteering is a job. And a job, to me, is to have responsibilities: You’re held accountable for completing certain tasks on time and conducting yourself in a certain professional manner. I guess the distinction is that with a job, you’re doing it because you want to get paid and you’re told to do so. Volunteerism, to me, is an outlet, like playing baseball or playing guitar. You do it because you like to.

CHP: What do you get out of volunteering?

Silva: Just knowing that I can put a smile on somebody’s face because I can. I think every time that I’m able to help somebody or they acknowledge that I will be able to help them in some way, it kind of reminds me of my mom. I remember the team of doctors that were responsible for performing the procedures on her and just how grateful I was to them, because they’re able-bodied surgeons. They’re professionals, they know what to do, and I was just extremely grateful for that. It just seems like they never ask for anything in return. The fact that they saved my mom, that was huge to me.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Community Chest

Photo by Kyan Mahzouf.

On Oct. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at L’Atelier Salon, stylists will volunteer their time offering haircuts and selling raffle tickets to benefit cancer and HIV/AIDS research and treatment programs at City of Hope, a clinical research center located in Southern California.

This annual nationwide campaign is in its fourth year at L’Atelier Salon. Salon manager Erica Penney said one employee, Nick Saporito, was integral in bringing the fundraiser to Santa Cruz.

“One of our stylists, Nick, brought this idea to us because it was very close to home for him,” Penney said.

Saporito spent a significant amount of time visiting Duarte, Calif. from 2005 to 2007 when his father was being treated for cancer.

“My dad was at City of Hope getting treated for his lymphoma,” Saporito said. “I learned about this nationwide campaign while I was there.”

The American Cancer Society estimates 11,714,000 people in the United States had cancer in 2007, according to their website. It is estimated that over 1 million people are living with HIV in the United States. When these serious diseases strike, resources run thin: patients often lose the ability to work, and medications are exorbitantly expensive.

Fundraisers and private donations are pivotal for City of Hope’s livelihood.

There will be a $40 minimum donation to receive a haircut during the fundraiser. Usually the salon staff performs about 70 haircuts throughout the day and raises roughly $4,000.

“It’s a cut-a-thon,” Saporito said. “We do haircuts for anybody at a flat rate. We also hold a raffle with great prizes. Most of the prizes are gift certificates or baskets from downtown businesses. We’ve got a little bit of everything.”

On the East Coast, hundreds of businesses participate in the City of Hope fundraiser. Salon manager Penney said L’Atelier is one of few on the West Coast to participate.

“Until this year, we were the only West Coast salon to participate,” Penney said. “Now there is one other in California doing it. I love participating in this fundraiser because City of Hope is such a great organization.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Local Salon Raises Funds for City of Hope Patients

Jeremy Parker and Robin Pisor participate in Relay for Life at the East Field. People participated in this event to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Photo by Sal Ingram.

Organizations set up booths where they sold a variety of goods and services. All the money collected was donated to the American Cancer Society. Photo by Sal Ingram.

“Cancer never sleeps.”

This was the motto of the 2011 Relay for Life, a 24-hour cancer awareness event and fundraiser. The relay, which began at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, was the third time that a Relay for Life has been hosted at UC Santa Cruz.

Ever since the first Relay for Life in 1985, millions of people — cancer survivors, families and friends of the victimized, and others still — across the nation have been inspired to do the same, raising hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the American Cancer Society.

On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered to help the cause by either raising funds, running, walking or by motivating others who looped around the OPERS East Field track. Opening alongside the NCAA men’s tennis regional tournament and against clouds that threatened to turn for the worse — and later would — turnout for the relay was pleasantly higher than expected by some.

Rohan Prabhakar, a third-year student volunteer with the Santa Cruz chapter of the student organization Colleges Against Cancer, said he was pleased with the amount of people who had decided to join the cause.

“Things turned out really well, considering the weather,” Prabhakar said. “We had well over 300–450 registered participants before the start, and with the number of people that have passed through so far, I’d say we’re up at around 600 people.”

Many had personal reasons to be there. Mimi Stroud, a second-year with the Student Volunteer Center relay team, was motivated to participate after the death of her father when she was 12.

“I’ve always wanted to become involved,” Stroud said. “There is a history of cancer in my family, and, well, when my father died it had a tremendous impact on my life. I’m glad I’m out here today — I think it’s worth it.”

While the sun was overhead, participants and passersby gathered freely about the relay’s organization bazaar. There, the sweet scent of freshly baked cupcakes was met with the harsher hint of rubbing alcohol. Relay teams sold everything from henna tattoos to handcrafted bracelets. While sifting through the goods and services from one display table to the next, shoppers also enjoyed live performances from groups including Grupo Folklorico and the Indian Student Organization.

Flitting about from tents to organizers and back was fourth-year Colleges Against Cancer president Teji Kapadia, checking to make sure the relay went swimmingly.

“Last year we felt like teams weren’t interacting enough,” Kapadia said. “We put in a lot of time making sure to promote unity and interaction this year.”

Having already put in 14–18 hour days preparing the event the previous week, Kapadia said she was determined for this year’s Relay for Life to be nothing short of a success.

“Teji has been relentless in working on this event,” volunteer Prabhakar said. “We were worried when so many of the original founding members of [the UCSC chapter of Colleges Against Cancer] graduated, but she’s put countless hours into making this happen.”

And it shows.

In 2009, UCSC’s first Relay for Life raised roughly $10,000. Last year, about $26,000. While the total amount for this year won’t be announced until Friday, Teji projected this year’s relay at over $21,000.

The symbolic gesture made by the relayers to carry on for the entire 24 hours held true throughout the night. Even at 4 a.m., as the storm rains and cold winds punished the relayers — some without poncho or coat to speak of — they could still be found making their rounds about the track.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A World with More Birthdays

Photo by Morgan Grana.

Callan Hajosy is a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate and Merrill College affiliate who studied environmental studies and economics. Next month she will be embarking on a five-month open-ended trip to Tanzania as a representative of the non-profit organization One Heart Source, which helps educate people about HIV/AIDS.

CHP: Can you tell me a little bit about the organization you work for?
Hajosy: I work for One Heart Source (OHS), a non-profit NGO that is based in Arusha, Tanzania. We run educational programs trying to break the generational cycle of transmission of HIV/AIDS.

CHP: How did you get involved with the organization?
Hajosy: Forty-one schools nationwide are involved. I got involved because a good friend of mine from high school was one of the first volunteers to go over there. He worked there for two years, told me about it, and I went last year. I was a volunteer there for eight weeks and then they asked me to go back as a program manager. That was after I graduated.

CHP: What pulled you into it and made you interested?
Hajosy: I’ve always wanted to go to Africa. I was already going after school [to South Africa and Tanzania] and then I heard about [OHS], read their website and was just hooked on it. I thought it would be a really great way to travel and help and get involved.

CHP: Where will you be going in a month and what will you be doing there?
Hajosy: I will be going to the village of Mateves, which is in Arusha, Tanzania, and I will be there for five months just running the summer programs. We also have programs in Zanzibar, so I’ll be running back and forth. We [volunteers] teach classes about three times a week, or however long they want us, and we also do community outreach programs and community teachings. There’s an orphanage there, so we work there also. We teach about HIV/AIDS awareness, protection and empowerment.

CHP: Do you have any future plans?
Hajosy: I don’t know, I have a one-way ticket right now, so it could end up being a while. Hopefully I stay involved. What I do right now when I’m not in Tanzania is recruit UCSC students and help them go through the application process, and also help them with pre-fieldwork. Right now I have five volunteers. I am so excited — I had my first dream of being back in Tanzania last night and I was like, “It’s time! It’s coming!” It’s definitely an adventure.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Community Chest

Supporters thronged the auction tables at Stow’s fundraiser. Organizers sold shirts for Stow, printed with his paramedic license number, a yellow ribbon and the universal medical symbol. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Giants and Dodgers fans alike were horrified when Bryan Stow, dedicated father of two as well as a dedicated Giants fan, was beaten savagely outside Dodger Stadium at the home opener baseball game on March 31.

Stow remains in critical condition as of April 14. Fundraisers have been held across the state to benefit Stow’s family, which is still recovering from the shock of the incident.

Hundreds of Giants fans and Stow supporters gathered at a fundraiser held at El Palomar restaurant in Santa Cruz on April 11 to show their support for the Santa Cruzan. Over $25,000 in donations were raised. Danny Simon, friend and roommate of Stow, said he planned the event to show local support.

“I wanted a fundraiser to be done here so Bryan’s family and friends that he’s known since high school could come here,” Simon said. “I just wanted to do something so that everyone could come together and celebrate here in town.”

Stow went to Soquel High School. Many of his friends came to the fundraiser to donate, buy raffle tickets, participate in the silent auction and watch the game in the back of the restaurant. Early in the evening, Simon said he was happy to see all of the camaraderie.

“First we didn’t think there were going to be enough people here to bid on things,” Simon said. “Now I’m afraid there are too many people. It’s crazy, and it’s just started.”

By 8 p.m., only one hour into the event, hundreds of people had already stopped by. The entire event lasted a total of four hours. By the end of the night, over a thousand raffle tickets had been sold.

“Again, it’s the local community of Santa Cruz coming out and supporting one of their own,” Simon said. “It’s what this town does.”

This is exactly what helped him secure donations for the silent auction and raffle, he said.

“Not one person told me ‘No,’” Simon said. “I came to many different places, people I knew or didn’t know, and everybody just said, ‘What do you need? What do you want? Is that enough?’ It was incredible.”

Kimi Hanson, manager of El Palomar, said she was glad to be able to help Simon with the event on behalf of Stow. She became friends with Stow after he and Simon frequented El Palomar many times in the past. Hanson plans on making a private donation from the restaurant to the Stow family, which will be sent to them along with the funds raised by the silent auction and raffle.

“He’s a lifesaver and a family man,” she said. “Just overall a really nice guy.”

Santa Cruz resident Jonathan Nelson, who works with Stow at Santa Clara Operations, attended Monday night’s fundraiser. He said he had already been to a similar fundraiser in Santa Clara, where he made a donation to the Stow family.

“Bryan is a great guy who would give everything he could to somebody to save their life,” he said. “So it’s just really ironic that something like this would happen to him. It’s really sad.”

He commended the Giants for bringing attention to the violence, calling them a “very classy organization.” He also praised the community for coming together to help out in light of the tragedy.

“We really feel for his children and for the family,” Nelson said. “This has been just phenomenal.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Santa Cruzans Support Bryan Stow

Illustration by Kristin Talley.

UC Santa Cruz third-year Sophia Petraki is at the forefront of a mission to bring a mobile clinic to Santa Cruz. The clinic would provide medical and hygienic services for Santa Cruz residents who are homeless, uninsured or financially unstable.

The clinic is mobile because there is no set location for its services yet. Petraki and her team of students plan to hold the clinic at different venues for each event. The first event will be held March 19 on Evergreen Street.

“We’re just students trying to do what we can to bring a little more compassion into this world,” said Iman Barre, a second-year health sciences major who is part of the Care project. “We’re taking small steps to hopefully bring about some significant, lasting change.”

The project was inspired by a Berkeley mobile clinic called the Suitcase, Petraki said. The Suitcase was started 20 years ago by a medical student and a pre-medical student from UC Berkeley. They went to the homeless people of Berkeley equipped with nothing but a suitcase full of basic medical supplies and offered their services.

“I came across Berkeley’s Suitcase clinic online and felt that there was a similar need here,” Petraki said. “[The Suitcase] has three clinics: the women’s clinic, youth clinic and general clinic. We are hoping to make the Santa Cruz chapter.”

To raise funds for the cause, the students applied for the Community Service Project grant at the Student Volunteer Center. The organization’s community aid and resources project is all done through the Student Organizations Advising and Resources office at UCSC.

The project is being sponsored by the Homeless Health Project and the Homeless Service Center of Santa Cruz.

“We will provide locations for the clinic,” said Megan Carlson, volunteer coordinator for the Homeless Services Center. “I will be working with Sophia to give help and support to the homeless population of Santa Cruz.”

About 2,260 people — 1 percent of the total population — are homeless in Santa Cruz, according to the 2009 Santa Cruz County Homeless and Census Survey.

Petraki, who is a molecular cell development biology major, wants to be a doctor but would also like to be a medical research scientist. The 34 students she has enlisted to work at the mobile clinic are of all grades and majors, though most study science.

Petraki plans to use the mobile clinic to offer a variety of free services like haircuts, job fairs and foot washes.

“A nurse at Dominican hospital said that a big issue for homeless people is being able to take care of their feet,” Petraki said. “Not having shoes and the difficulty of maintaining hygiene are big causes of illnesses that can befall [homeless people].”

The homeless center in downtown Santa Cruz has places for people to bathe, but no products with which to wash. One of the goals of the Care project is to fundraise and provide people with those products.

“By giving our basic services and being mobile we can find out what is needed,” Petraki said. “Our goal is to fill in the gaps of what other clinics aren’t providing, like the free services.”

Another philanthropic endeavor in Santa Cruz is the Project Homeless Connect, a fair held once a year.

The event makes available booths that offer opportunities for people to get a doctor’s appointment, a dentist’s appointment, a birth certificate, a driver’s license or prescription eyeglasses. Petraki’s goal for the Care Project is to have this kind of event, but more frequently than once a year.

The project already has two medical assistants, an emergency medical technician and a doctor lined up, all working free of charge.

Petraki and her team held a fundraiser for the project at Woodstock’s Pizza on Feb. 17, and they plan to hold more fundraisers in the future. They also want to hold a dinner somewhere downtown as a way to draw homeless people in and get them talking about their health.

“[The Care project] shines a light on the issues of healthcare and employment for homeless people,” Petraki said. “It brings awareness, which is the only way these issues will be solved.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at New Mobile Clinic for Local Homeless

Pamela Whittington, the owner of Classic Cleaners, shows a few of the donated prom dresses in this year’s prom dress drive. The drive provides for high schoolers who cannot afford them. This annual event will be accepting donations throughout the month of February until March 31. Photo by Molly Solomon.

As the warm February sun shines in through the shop door, local business owner Pamela Whittington enthusiastically points out the rack of dresses near the front of her store, Classic Cleaners. A spectrum of brightly colored dresses await cleaning and sorting. These prom dresses will then be given to high schoolers who cannot afford a dress.

The third annual prom dress drive aims to give out prom dresses to local students who cannot afford one. The Santa Cruz and Watsonville areas grappled with 13.8 percent unemployment at the close of 2010, up 0.5 percent from December 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Organizers of the annual prom dress drive hope to reach more students across the Santa Cruz and Watsonville areas by holding two different shopping dates in March and April.

Council member Tony Madrigal, who brought the event to Santa Cruz after hearing of its success in other areas, explained that his goals for this year’s drive are “to do better outreach, reach more of the students and more of the schools.”

Classic Cleaners, on Soquel Avenue, offers free cleaning for all the donated dresses. Whittington’s shop, as well as the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center, Comerica Banks and Bailey Properties offices are all dress drop-off areas.

“[Prom] is … a milestone,” Whittington said. “It’s going to the next level of your life. The economy cannot let this rite of passage go away.”

Bridal Veil Fashions in Capitola has already donated new dresses to the event, despite the resulting loss in its own sales.

“This is competition [for Bridal Veil Fashion], and what do they do? They send brand-new dresses,” Whittington said as she pointed towards a row of dresses, many of which still had tags. “It just shows how much they value their community.”

As local support floods in, many people donate more than dresses. Whittington smiled and lifted up several bustiers that have been donated, explaining that the drive receives everything from shoes to makeup and jewelry.

Whittington said that the committee did not “solicit for the shoes, or the makeup, or the bustiers,” but still, community members took the initiative and brought unopened makeup, as well as accessories.

Cita Rasul, who works for the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center and serves on the committee for the dress drive, has seen firsthand the effect such generosity has on individuals. Rasul personally knew a young woman who received a dress the first year of the event. She now works on promotions, giving back to the community and the event that gave her the opportunity to fully experience her prom.

For those involved in the dress drive, a major concern is making sure the event is comfortable and accessible for the high schoolers who participate.

“We make sure this is a fun and exciting time and there is no shame at all,” Rasul said, “It’s really exciting to see the gratification on the girls’ faces when they put on a dress.”

Upon receiving a dress, students are asked only their name and their school affiliation so that volunteers can determine which schools are being reached and what can be done to make the event inclusive to all high schools in the area.

As the event grows, the organizers hope to better involve university students in collections and donations. Currently there is not a drop-off station at UC Santa Cruz, but council member Madrigal hopes to eventually include one in the drive.

Madrigal, who had gone to Whittington with the idea to start the drive several years back, said that he is “just trying to have better, out-of-the-box thinking [and] creative ideas to help people in our community.”

Whittington said that her history as a “Salvation Army baby” and the fact she was unable to attend her own prom are why she hopes to offer local high schoolers the chance to attend prom without the financial burden.

Whittington said: “[We’re] putting the call out to clean out your closets and donate that dress.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Puttin’ on the Ritz: Community Collects Gowns in Annual Drive

Illustration by Patrick Yeung.

Next Sunday, 125 million Yankees will congregate on couches from sea to shining sea and consume excessive servings of beer, chicken wings, chips and dip.

Super Bowl Sunday is the epitome of an American holiday — perfectly nondenominational, food-oriented and capitalist.

It is our second most gluttonous day of the year after Thanksgiving, finishing slightly before Christmas.

Yet something troubling separates the Super Bowl from our other two favorite holidays: We Americans don’t think about those in need while we stuff our faces in February.

As a nation, we need to remember that though we are warm and uncomfortably full of bean dip and guacamole during America’s game, there are many Americans who have neither a home nor an abundance of food.

There should be the same focus on charity during Super Bowl Sunday as there is during Christmas or Thanksgiving. On our days of copious excess, we have the responsibility to give food or money to those in need.

Now, the first response many will have to this statement is, “Christmas and Thanksgiving are a little different than the Superbowl.”

And that is true — unlike the Super Bowl, both holidays have morality fables that work to inspire people to help or share with their fellow man.

But we should be better than that. We should not need stories to tell us how to treat people.

Americans will spend $55 million on food on Feb. 6. And yet, the holiday’s major food drive, the Souper Bowl of Caring, raised only $4,484 last year, with only 15 organizations participating. Less than $5,000? That amounts to 0.001 percent of the money that we spend on snack food going to charity.

Now, compare that amount to the money raised on Christmas. The Salvation Army in Walworth County, Wisc. raised almost $330,000 during the holiday season, according to a Jan. 6 story in the Walworth County Today.

The discrepancy between our desire to give in December and in February is unacceptable. On both days, family and friends gather, celebrate in each other’s company, devour huge meals and watch football.

The only real difference seems to be the moral tale.Though the Super Bowl is not infused with the church’s moral guilt or America’s imperial guilt, we must find other motivation to help the needy.

We may be gluttons, but we still must look out for our fellow Americans.

So, when you’re buying Doritos next weekend, think about the thousands of people in Santa Cruz alone who have neither adequate food nor shelter and give a little to the homeless.

Instead of stockpiling 50 cans of black beans for nachos, start a canned food drive at UCSC or in your neighborhood. When you are trying to decide what to spend your last dollars on, please take a moment and choose compassion.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at ’Tis the Season to Tackle Hunger

Illustration by Matt Boblet.

The Santa Cruz Police Department is launching a new volunteer program in conjunction with the city of Santa Cruz. The latest in a series of additions to the police force, the program intends to bring the community and the police together with the common goal of upholding public safety.

The volunteer applications, which are available online to members of the community over the age of 18, can be submitted via e-mail, fax, or delivered by hand to the CitySERVE Volunteer Program Office on Center Street. Volunteers can choose the length of time as well as the time of day at which they plan to volunteer. Kevin Vogel, Santa Cruz’s chief of police, said that 18 applications have already been submitted.

City council member David Terrazas works closely with the SCPD volunteer program.

“One of the things I was interested in was encouraging volunteerism within the city,” Terrazas said. “During [my] campaign I met with a variety of public and elected officials to talk about how we could get more people engaged in public service.”

The volunteers will be trained by already paid administrative workers at the police department to do clerical work. Output in the office will go down during training, but as soon as the volunteers begin, output will increase, Vogel explained. Terrazas said that the program will save money in the long run.

“We’re looking at having volunteers out there doing lower level police work that actually has a net positive effect on the budget,” Terrazas said. “That was the purpose of this — to get people out there working on things that need to be addressed and to not take away time from scheduled police officers’ work to do the public safety enforcement that they were hired to do.”

Vogel plans to further develop the program and keep options open for prospective volunteers He said that volunteers will be expected to do a minimum of 12 to 16 hours of work per month in order to make the volunteers worthwhile and cost-effective.

“We are going to interview each one of them and find out where their interests lie,” Vogel said. “We might actually discover other things that we can have volunteers do.”

Bill Christie is a local dentist who has spent many years volunteering at the SCPD as a chairperson for Santa Cruz’s Citizens’ Police Review Board, coordinator for Santa Cruz Citizens’ Police Academy, and will be the first volunteer for the new SCPD volunteer program.

“We all know there’s going to be a challenge with the financing, the resources that the police department has access to, so one of the things I suggested to [Vogel] was to get a volunteer program going and he already had that in mind,” Christie said.

The inspiration for the volunteer program was the Citizens’ Police Academy, a program that allows citizens to learn about the work the police department does. Citizens have the opportunity to drive police cars, use firearms and learn what police detectives do at crime scenes.

The academy left many citizens interested and informed, but without a means to really help and give back to the department. As a coordinator for the police academy, this troubled Christie.

“The academy turned out dozens and dozens of people,” Christie said. “They’d come to me, the coordinator, and say, ‘What can we do?’ and we didn’t have anything for them to do. We’re not going to be confronting criminals or anything like that. We’re just going to be doing what we can to make things easier for the police department.”

Freeing police officers from administrative jobs would greatly aid the department, Vogel said.

“Through the use of volunteers, I will be able to utilize those police employees to do more of the core function that the police department provides: keeping the community safe, handling calls for service, handling traffic incidents, following up on cases and investigations, and community outreach,” he said.

Christie’s nephew, a reserve police officer, is fully trained as an officer but acts as a volunteer. Christie said that average citizens can support the police department from behind the scenes too, and this type of support is just as vital to the department as the front-line volunteer work that his nephew does.

“I don’t want to be a police officer,” Christie said. “My nephew doesn’t get paid at all to be a police officer, and he does it almost every week and he loves it. I want to support them but not on so much of a personal level, confronting the drunks and the criminals on the streets. Why do I want to do it? Because I believe in law enforcement.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Police Introduce Volunteer Program

Illustration by Louise Leong.

Sooner or later, it will end up in a landfill.

It’s not your fault. We live in a culture that too often values itself based on the stuff that we own. Do we have the newest laptop? The coolest phone? The completely useless — though perhaps wildly entertaining — iPad? More than any other time of the year, the holiday season is too often about getting more stuff.

But as you rush from shop to shop, please put down the shirt you are thinking of giving your sister and ask yourself: Is this something she really needs?

The answer is probably no.

According to Stanford’s recycling center, in the short time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Americans generate around 25 million tons more waste than at any other time of the year. Even if your gift isn’t chucked out with last night’s pot roast, it might become obsolete by next year and “need” to be replaced.

This isn’t to say you have to give up gift-giving altogether. Instead, try to think of more practical or socially responsible gifts. Creativity, more than convenience, will give you the “wow factor” during the gift exchange, and you can sleep soundly knowing that it will be put to good use. Here are some suggestions:

Rather than reaching for the newest DVD, see if there is something that the people on your list actually need.

If the folks on your list have it all, then give them an alternative gift that will benefit others. Micro-financing can be a great way to help someone, and there are many sites that offer easy ways to get involved. Investing in Kiva could be a great way exercise your generosity this year. The site allows you to browse through the profiles of motivated entrepreneurs from the developing world and select who you’d like to help and how much to loan. For just $25, you can empower someone to change his or her life.

If you would rather make your social impact locally, visit the Homeless Garden Project gift shop on Pacific Avenue. The proceeds from gift sales go directly to the payroll of homeless trainees, so you are not only buying a gift, but also paying for a homeless person to learn valuable skills that will help him or her get off the street.

Finally, what your loved ones really want for the holidays might be you — not bursting out of a gigantic cake like a stripper at a bachelor party, but in the form of spending some quality time. Mom might be thrilled to be taken out to lunch, or maybe Dad would like to go fishing like when you were younger. Especially now that you spend so much time away from home, don’t be surprised if what your folks really want is some bonding.

So this holiday season, don’t be boring. Don’t make the annual trip to stores you think your family members like and wait to stumble upon the “perfect” gift. Surprise them with something more interesting.

You might find they are impressed you thought outside the box.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A New Way to Give This Season

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The Porter College Fall Brawl is a video game tournament being held at the Porter Dining Hall on Saturday Nov. 20. All the proceeds will go to Child’s Play, a charity that donates DVDs, video games and toys to hospitalized children during the holidays.

For just $5, participants can end up spending up to 12 hours playing either Super Smash Bros: Brawl or Super Street Fighter IV. The organizers of this event have found a way to make donating time and money easy, rewarding and fun.

This is a superbly innovative and positive way to give back to the community.

The “gamer” community has various negative stereotypes, such as being antisocial or lacking a sense of reality — but these thoughts are untrue and this event proves it. It’s bringing together a gaming community that realizes that there’s more to the world than high scores and bonus levels. Video games have always been considered communal. Their origins are firmly entrenched in the arcades of yesteryear, and, though it was once seen as a only hobby for children and men, it is now becoming fully realized that everyone plays video games.

Video games are one of the fastest rising of art and entertainment mediums, rivaled closely by comic books. It’s smart and modern to take this pastime and find ways to utilize its entertainment factor to contribute to a good cause.

Maybe you have no interest in playing video games, or maybe you have homework, like the majority of the student body. That’s understandable. But if you’re interested in the cause, you can donate on the Fall Brawl website: www.portervgf.org/fallbrawl.

Follow the links, go to the event and feel good about yourself.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Gamers: Not Just Couch Potatoes

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The Santa Cruz Veteran’s Hall will be unable to continue its 24-year tradition of hosting Santa Cruz’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner this year. The United Veteran’s Council announced last month that due to the closure of the Veteran’s Hall, it would be unable to host the traditional dinner.

In response, a group of activists from the Santa Cruz community formed Friends of Thanksgiving, a broad-based coalition of people who have taken responsibility for carrying on the tradition of the annual Thanksgiving dinner, served to the homeless of Santa Cruz. Former city council candidate Steve Pleich was the driving force behind the group’s materialization.

“All these people have made time especially to do this,” Pleich said. “This group wouldn’t have been anything if people hadn’t made the commitment to really see this through.”

Friends of Thanksgiving came together only three weeks ago, and in that time they organized the alternative Thanksgiving Day event, which will be held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium from 12 to 3 p.m.

The Veteran’s Hall typically serves over 1,000 meals each year for Thanksgiving, and Friends of Thanksgiving is prepared for a similar turnout this year. Pleich said that it is ready to serve about 1,500 meals this year, maybe more.

“A lot of private individuals have been donating food, and many different organizations were willing to contribute,” said Rev. Dennis Adams, a Friends of Thanksgiving leader. “When we mention to people that this dinner is still going to be going on, they are very happy and willing to help out.”

Pleich said main donation sources include the Farmers’ Market, Second Harvest Food Bank and Beckmann’s Old World Bakery. The Homeless Services Center has helped as well, and Costco offered special prices on turkey for the event. Though many businesses are pitching in, some food sources will potentially be unavailable due to the initial cancellation.

“Our problem is, because we started so late, it took a while to work out,” Pleich said. “Some of the folks that normally donate saw the article in the Sentinel that there would be no Thanksgiving dinner, and they made commitments of food that they normally would have given to [the Veteran’s Hall]. We’re trying to get a hold of those folks and make sure they haven’t committed their food to somebody else.”

Nevertheless, volunteers have been stepping up to the plate, and phones have been ringing off the hook with people interested in donating their time or food to the event, said Megan Carlson, volunteer coordinator for the Homeless Services Center.

“I don’t have any doubt that the community will come together and be a part of this event,” Carlson said. “We’re really excited about it. It’s an event that we all can participate in. It’s for the whole community.”

Former city council candidate Pleich said Santa Cruz has a reputation for being generous and helping those less fortunate, and that Friends of Thanksgiving has been counting on that aspect of the community to get this event together.

“This is the Santa Cruz tradition, and we’re going to keep it going in any way we can,” he said. “There are a lot of people doing really great work. This is going to help us turn a time of want and need into a time of celebration and generosity.”

Rev. Adams emphasized the importance of the meal for the homeless in Santa Cruz.

“We are very thankful to give ourselves up to the city of Santa Cruz so that people can have a great Thanksgiving this year,” Adams said. “Whether people are living inside or outside, we want to make to sure they have a nice toasty dinner on Thanksgiving Day.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Friends of Thanksgiving to Hold Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

He didn’t mean to hurt him.

“Soccer is a contact sport — you are going to get hit in ways that aren’t allowed,” I overhear José’s* mentor Colin Mark-Griffin tell him as he dribbles a ball in the afternoon sun. Brushing his shaggy black hair out of his eyes, he continues. “But you can’t just hit them back, or you will get penalized. Instead, next time you get the ball, get real close to them, and kick it at them as hard as possible.”

I watch as Colin demonstrates by getting up after pretending to be knocked down, dribbling the ball close to his mentee and aiming a soft kick at the middle school boy with short brown hair.

It’s not easy to watch the shot that collides with José. With a groan he falls to his knees clutching at his pants. Mortified, Colin runs over to him, apologizing and checking to see if he is all right.

“Yes, I’m fine,” José chuckles between deep breaths. “I get it.”

José is one of 20 youth involved in the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center’s mentoring program. Ninety percent of the youth involved in the program come from families that have a history of domestic violence, according to data collected by the WAWC. These same youth are at a greater risk of developing issues like depression, substance abuse and, in some cases, learning to copy the violence that they witness at home. Sixty-percent percent of teens who witness domestic violence in their parents’ relationship experience abuse in their own relationships, according to a 2009 research study conducted by the Liz Claiborne Foundation.

The program matches youth up with an adult mentor for a six-month relationship, and the pairs meet once a week to do something together. For José and his mentor Colin, this often means playing a sport. But no matter what the activity, the mentoring program aims to model healthy relationships between youth and adults.

It might be hard to see how accidentally hitting a middle school boy in the crotch with a soccer ball could be considered positive male role modeling, but Aleen Raybin — a youth advocate at the WAWC — said the mentoring program provides a safe place for youth where they can learn healthy relationship skills.

“It’s hard for them to trust relationships when they grow up in violent homes, and we create a safe place for them to express themselves,” Raybin said. “They can come to this safe space and get their needs met. It’s not about what’s going on at home — it’s about whatever they want to do in that moment.”

Colin, like most of the mentors, is a student at UC Santa Cruz. The WAWC does significant outreach to students whose majors offer field study, such as community studies and sociology. However, mentors are a diverse group, said youth advocate Adam Harrison, who helped coordinate the program.

“We get a lot of psychology and sociology majors, as well as community studies,” Harrison said. “But we also get people who find out about us while waiting at a bus stop.”

Harrison stressed that interested students do not need to have prior experience working with youth, as long as they are willing to donate their time. Prior to working with any youth at the WAWC, mentors are required to complete a seven-week training process.

“One of the most important things for people to know is, regardless of your background, all you really need to do is show up,” Harrison said. “We provide all the training you will need.”

The sea breeze is blowing hard as I arrive at the bonfire, and many of the mentors and mentees are wearing sweatshirts. I am introduced to the 15 or so people hanging out on towels surrounding the fire pit, and I take a spot next to one of them.

Off to the side, a group of young teens and their mentors are playing catch with a football. Colin’s mentee José is among them. He passes the football to his sister Marta* and when she flinches and drops it, he encourages her to not be afraid of getting hit. The tone of his voice is tired but calm, the way a parent speaks to a child learning to ride a bike. Walking over to join them, I strike up a conversation with José.

Without missing a beat in his game of catch, José tells me that he is excited for his soccer team’s first real match the next day. Speaking of his two favorite positions, goalie and defenseman, José is relaxed and talkative.

However, his expression changes when I ask him about the mentoring program and how he and his sister Marta came to be involved in it. Now, he resembles a student who doesn’t know the answer to the teacher’s question. He glances at his younger sister before he responds. A few seconds pass before he says anything.

“We have family problems,” he says.

Esmeralda Rizas, crisis intervention advocate and community educator at the Women’s Crisis Center in Watsonville, explained why having an adult outside the family to talk to can help children who have experienced domestic violence.

“The child or teen has the opportunity to speak with someone who is there to listen and provide support,” Rizas said. “Unfortunately, they don’t always have that kind of relationship with their parents.”

She said that a mentoring program allows for a safe space to talk.

“They know that they can talk to someone, and they won’t be screamed at, or punished for saying things that might not be OK with their parents,” Rizas said.

The Liz Claiborne Foundation also found a correlation between the worsening economy and increasing rates of both violence in teen relationships and domestic violence. Seventy-four percent of teens surveyed for the study said that their families experienced some form of economic hardship in the past year, and of those, 44 percent reported witnessing some form of violence or other abusive behavior in their parents.

Maisy*, a seventh grader involved in the WAWC mentoring program, echoed Rizas’ words when she talked about her relationship with her mentor, Megan Ludwig, a UCSC fourth-year.

“It’s kinda like having another older sister who I can talk to,” Maisy said. “I feel comfortable talking to her about anything.”

Sitting comfortably at a table outside one of their favorite hangouts on Pacific Avenue, Ludwig and her middle-school mentee Maisy laugh as they share memories from their experience as a mentoring pair.

“Do you remember that one time we were walking along the beach and there were all these dead sand crabs, and every time we saw one you had to stop and look at them?” Maisy teased.

“I had to stop and look,” Ludwig said. “It was fascinating, there were like thousands of them — how could you not?”

This playful back-and-forth sounds more like old friends catching up over a cup of coffee than the everyday conversation of a college student and her middle-school mentee. But the structure of the program makes it easy for students like Ludwig to learn skills necessary for connecting with youth.

Over the course of the seven-week training process, mentors develop skills in active listening, harm reduction and understanding how domestic violence affects children. A major component of the training process is that mentors take an active role. When discussing the issue of domestic violence, for instance, mentors engage in brainstorming sessions to define what constitutes abuse, break down myths about domestic violence, and understand potential barriers to the victim of domestic violence against leaving their spouse.

One of the lessons stressed in the training program is that mentors are there for the youth, not the other way around. While the WAWC wants mentors to develop a close relationship with their mentee, mentors should not unload personal issues on their youth.

“The No. 1 priority in our program is the youth,” Raybin said. “We make sure that the people we bring into their lives are prepared to support them in that capacity, and it includes not using the space for themselves.”

By providing mentors with the tools they will need to work with the kids, the WAWC encourages people to get involved. Being willing to show up is all that is needed to make a difference in the life of a child, Harrison said.

“People who come into our programs feel comfortable and ready to jump in after our training,” Harrison said. “Who you are is perfectly good enough to work with a young person.”

Back on Seabright Beach, it is almost time to go. But before everyone can go home, Harrison and a young mentee have organized a makeshift obstacle course and the WAWC has provided a brand new boogie board as the prize. Mentors and mentees alike compete, and eventually one of the boys is declared the winner.

Although it may not have been the point, the competition provides a metaphor for the obstacles youth who have witnessed domestic violence face and the help that mentors can provide. Just as Harrison worked with a mentee to construct the course, mentors help youth redefine the obstacles in their own lives, whether this means making decisions about substance use, safety planning for when a parent turns violent, or practicing healthy relationship behaviors. By establishing a fun, safe space for youth to deal with serious issues, mentors help them develop into healthy adults capable of avoiding harmful relationships later in life. Since many abusers learn to use violence in the home from their parents, preventing a child from growing up to do the same has the potential to break the cycle and positively impact generations.

Ludwig said she has discovered a passion, and is planning to work with youth when she moves home to Los Angeles. Maisy, whom she mentors, has plans of her own. Inspired by her experience with Ludwig, Maisy wants to give to back to the program.

“I have Megan, and it’s nice to have her,” Maisy said. “So it would be nice for another kid somewhere to have a mentor too. I would love to be someone’s mentor.”

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of children 18 and under.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Slug Mentors

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

“What are you doing after you graduate?”

Whether fielding the dreaded question from curious friends, concerned parents, or well-meaning relatives — without a definite plan, giving an answer to this question is complicated. As over 2,300 UCSC seniors prepare for graduation in a little over a week, the topic on everyone’s minds is the future.

After graduation, students have the freedom to choose what to do with their lives, which is simultaneously liberating and disconcerting.  Graduation is right around the corner, along with a lot of uncertainty, but if there is ever a time to take risks and do something crazy, this is it. Many students are going abroad to take advantage of their newfound freedom in the attempt to avoid cubicle confinement for as long as possible.

Life After College

Stephanie Bouret, a fourth-year design major at UC Davis, has been spending the last couple of weeks researching and day dreaming about the future, when she admits she should be focusing on her final projects.  This is because, at the end of August, Bouret is embarking on a trip that will take her all of the way around the globe.

First, Bouret plans on spending ten days couch surfing in Zurich, Switzerland, before flying to Tanzania to volunteer in an orphanage for two and a half months.  Bouret always knew she wanted to go to Africa after graduation, and found a program through International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ), which places volunteers in any of 14 countries.

“I don’t even know where they are going to place me yet, I don’t really know what to expect, but that is kind of what interests me about it — not really knowing what I’m going to experience there, just a culture shock, more of a global perspective on things,” Bouret said.

Armed with her ‘round-the-world plane ticket and anti-malaria pills, Bouret is excited to travel by herself and become immersed in multiple different cultures.

Round-the-world plane tickets enable travelers to fly through up to 16 stops, including layovers, provided they visit at least two destinations in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and don’t backtrack along their journey. After Tanzania, Bouret plans to travel for at least a couple more weeks, or as long as the money she has carefully saved will hold out.

“I’m done with everything being really sheltered, and I really want to have my own experience,” she said. “You just have to take some risks in traveling and in life, and we’ll just see what happens.”

Despite Bouret’s excitement about facing the unknown, for many, anxiety is often paired with the possibility of adventure.

Margarita Azmitia, Ph.D., is a professor of developmental psychology at UC Santa Cruz. Part of her research has focused on the ways individuals adjust to major life transitions, such as the transition to adulthood.

“[Graduation] causes anxiety for a variety of reasons,” Azmitia said. “Anytime you make a transition — whether it is to adulthood or whether it is to junior high, you are going to have anxiety, because it is a new context. … You have to make decisions about what adulthood is going to look like for you, what kind of jobs you are thinking about, what kind of relationships — all of that is a little bit unsettling.”

Students about to graduate can use this time as an opportunity to learn about themselves and use their new experiences to help them decide what directions to take in the future. According to Azmitia, the jump from college into the real world is made easier by being flexible and open to change.

“This is the time when you don’t have [many] responsibilities, you don’t have a family, you don’t have a job that you have to stay at, so this time is a great opportunity to see other things. You probably won’t have this kind of opportunity again in your life,” she said. “You just have to be open to new experiences, and let things also emerge so that you can see new things. Most people don’t end up doing what they planned, at least initially, and that’s OK.”

April Goral is no stranger to students who are apprehensive about the future. The UCSC career center advisor for arts, humanities, and life and health sciences estimates that more than half of the students she sees on a daily basis have no idea what career path they would like to pursue. Goral helps to guide these students by listening closely to their interests and giving information about the various opportunities open to them.

Goral said that many students do not choose to go to graduate school immediately, and that there are benefits to trying out different options before deciding what to do in the long run.

“Graduate schools are about specialization, and, if a student doesn’t know what it is that they want to specialize in, then they need to go into the world of work and explore and find it out for themselves,” Goral said. “Many of the MBA programs prefer students who have had at least three years of work experience before applying. They want them to bring something to the table.”

For graduates able to travel, this can be a perfect challenge, and a way to learn to be fully independent. Goral said college graduates can further their education in locales other than the classroom, and that their recently discovered capabilities could help them land their dream jobs.

“One of the main traits that employers are looking for are team players, and the team players are not all going to be from the same geographic location or have the same kind of mentality,” she said. “Being flexible, being adaptable, that willingness, and the interaction that they have with a greater diverse population are wonderful skills that they would be bringing to any kind of position or toward grad school.”

“If there is any opportunity to travel abroad,” Goral added, “I tell students, why not?”

Off the Beaten Path

In 2008, the UC Experience Survey questioned seniors about their plans following graduation. Of the graduating students at UCSC, 30 percent planned to go to graduate school, while another 32 percent had plans to get full-time jobs — but what about the rest? Taking time off during a ‘gap year’ is a well-established custom in countries like Great Britain, and now many recent graduates are attempting to make it a trend in America.

Traveling is one of the best ways to become immersed in different cultures and new experiences.  Professor Azmitia said those who are unsure of their abilities to survive in the real world can benefit by going abroad.

“For students that are able to do something completely different, whether it is through traveling or trying your hand at something you have never done before, it is a really good experience to just really … figure out who you really are and see if you can really make it,” Azmitia said.

The main obstacle faced by students who want to travel is the expense involved. However, the Internet is full of opportunities to work in exchange for food and a place to stay.

Workaway.info, the website created by David Milward, is one option for students looking to travel and gain unique work experience while spending as little money as possible.  A first visit to the website featured volunteering in return for accommodations at either a bed and breakfast in the Australian outback or a yoga retreat in the Andalusia region of Spain.

“Everyone should have the opportunity to travel,” Milward said. “It opens your eyes to different cultures and lifestyles, you learn so much, not only about other countries … but about yourself and who you really are.”

Other international networking websites, like couchsurfing.com, allow travelers to find people in other countries who are willing to let them crash on their couch for free. In addition to a free place to stay, these locals will often show their guests around and help them to avoid notorious tourist traps while taking them to places off the beaten path.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is another organization based around the concept of work exchange.  With national WWOOF organizations in 50 countries, “WWOOFers” work with other eco-conscious locals on farms, in return for food and a place to stay.

Joshua Cowan, a fifth-year UCSC Oakes student, used WWOOF in New Zealand to get more out of his trip than the usual tourist experience.  For the last three months of his trip, Cowan traveled around New Zealand, sometimes staying at houses or hostels registered with the WWOOF network. His stays involved either helping in small, personal gardens or with various household projects.

“I saw it as a really cheap way to travel and also get to see what the Kiwi, or the New Zealand, culture was like,” Cowan said. “I saw it to really get that experience — what it’s actually like to live as a New Zealander.”

Embracing Culture Shock

Other recent graduates take the opportunity to visit or live in as many countries as possible, creating the new generation of global citizens. Some choose to teach English abroad as a way to live and work in different surroundings.  This enables the traveler to see a country from a much different perspective than they would gain from a short stay.

When Jordana Miller describes all of the places she has been, her enthusiasm for travel is infectious. She stayed in Costa Rica for a month with a friend who taught surfing for a living.  More recently, she returned from a trip to Mexico, and is leaving soon to travel to Israel through Taglit-Birthright Israel, a program that provides trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. After Israel, she plans on stopping off in Egypt before returning home.

After graduating from San Diego State in 2007 and finishing an internship, a friend convinced Miller to teach English in South Korea — she left a few weeks later. Miller originally committed to staying in South Korea for six months teaching students aged two to 14, but eventually decided to extend her stay to almost a year and a half.  Even though she said teaching was overwhelming at first, Miller learned a lot about herself in the process.

“The first week I felt like I couldn’t breathe because I was so overwhelmed – you literally just go and you figure it out,” Miller said. “The best  part of Korea were the people I met. Everyone that goes is a little bit crazy because you’ve gotta be a little bit crazy to just leave your life and go commit to living in Asia for a year.”

Now Miller can’t get enough of traveling. While teaching in South Korea, she was able to visit Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. She loved her experience and wholeheartedly recommends teaching abroad as a way to see another country.

“I would say even if you are just thinking about it and entertaining the idea, just do it,” Miller said. “Absolutely 100 percent do it, just go with yes. I was bit by the travel bug before Korea, but after Korea, it’s like a drug, I need to leave the country.  Anything that involves my passport, I’m there.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Bit By the Travel Bug

Ali O’Grady, a third year student and director of the Student Volunteer Center, is in charge of service grants that is set up through SVC award money to student projects. Photo by Devika Agarwal.

The UC Santa Cruz Student Volunteer Center (SVC) is giving away thousands of dollars.

At a time when many departments in the university are facing shrinking financial resources, the SVC is designating a significant portion of its budget for students through its community service project grant program by awarding grants that range from $100 to $1,000.

“I want to put the money back in the hands of the students — I think that is where it should be,” said Ali O’Grady, director of the SVC.

The CSP grant program almost failed to operate this year. As an intern during winter 2009, O’Grady noticed the inactive program on the SVC’s website. She resolved to resurrect it and has been working on getting the program up and running since fall quarter.

“Once I became the director I talked to my staff about starting it up again, and since then it has been a long process to get all the paperwork done, through the career center and the university.”

The main obstacle to reestablishing the program was the legal paperwork surrounding the ways in which money may be distributed through the career center, where the SVC is housed. Because of restrictions on disbursement, money may only be given out one of two ways — either as a purchase order to be spent at specific vendors listed in the proposal budget, or as a reimbursement to an organization or individual with original itemized receipts.

According to the SVC’s website, the Community Service Project (CSP) Grant program awards seed money to student-initiated service projects that address a tangible need in the Santa Cruz community. Applicants are required to complete written applications, generate itemized budgets, and attend a meeting with SVC Director Ali O’Grady before submitting their proposals. In addition, applicants must find a UCSC faculty sponsor and a community sponsor with whom to collaborate on the project.

O’Grady said that the numerous steps in the process are designed to help students submit a solid proposal.

“We want to make sure that we can give them some guidance and make sure that they are as thorough as possible, because we want people to be approved,” she said.

Kresge first-year Keith Bobrowski is submitting a proposal to start a food-transport service to the homeless drum circle. His proposal makes use of grant money to purchase a bike and a custom truck bed that will be used to carry food from campus to the downtown homeless gathering. He says he developed the idea for his project with his service learning professor Franklin Williams after the two had a discussion about Bobrowski’s passion for working with bikes. Despite his lack of experience, Bobrowski feels comfortable with the CSP grant process.

“This is the first grant I have ever written,” Bobrowski said. “[The grant process] seems reasonable, they just want all the details. You have to be able to present your case, and I feel like I can do that with the food transport project.”

Professor Williams said that the CSP grants are a great educational experience for his students, who are working on grant writing this quarter.

“[The community service project grants] are giving us a chance to write grants about something real instead of abstract grants,” he said. “It will motivate you a lot more, instead of writing one to the Ford Foundation … just to learn the mechanics of grant writing.”

Williams cites the accessibility of the SVC as a major contributor to the effectiveness of the program.

“Ali [O’Grady] has gone out of her way to make sure [students] are going to be successful,” he said. “Everyone who applies for a grant has to meet with her first…and then I can say ‘She has these questions, so let’s answer these questions.’ We are going right to the person in charge of the grants. It is much more organic.”

Proposals are due by May 10, and decisions regarding who will receive funding are to be made shortly after. Despite the slow start, O’Grady is excited about what the program means for students.

“[The CSP grant] is a really good opportunity for students who have never written a grant before to get some experience. I think it will be exciting to see students follow through and implement their ideas in the community,” she said.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Student Volunteer Center to Grant Thousands

Illustration by Louise Leong.

GIIP Interns learn from Paul Lubeck that designing a project plan for social change is not an easy task. GIIP students have interned in countries from Keyna to Malaysia, India to El Salvador, teaching technology skills learned in the classrooms of UCSC. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Photo by Rosario Serna.

Photo by Rosario Serna.

Located on the corner of the third floor of Social Sciences 1, the Global Information Internship Program’s (GIIP) office is small and easy to miss. The office, a single room about half the size of a small classroom, is filled with old swivel chairs and computers. On the wall hangs a topical world map with little red stickers jutting out, marking where GIIP’s members have traveled.

The room is a hub for student interns involved in a new era of activism, one that combines the passion of a community organizer with the know-how of savvy tech-junkies. New technological innovations have allowed nonprofits to expand their support and fundraising across the globe. And GIIP interns at UCSC are leading the way.

Pronounced “jeep,” GIIP is an internship and class for UC Santa Cruz students that teaches students about global developmental inequality, and then sends them out in the world to solve a pressing problem. Some students have trained nonprofits in Africa in useful technological skills, while others worked in central California building links through digital storytelling between first-generation American children and their immigrant parents.

“It takes internships to an entirely new level,” said co-chair of GIIP’s Global Advisory Board Dana Priest, a UCSC alumni and two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post.

“You’re creating your own program, you’re responsible for finding money,” she added.

GIIP is the brainchild of Paul Lubeck, a sociology professor and the current director of GIIP.

“We try to show the interconnectedness of global social networks and technology networks,” Lubeck said, explaining the organization’s mission, “and how the two can work together.”

Lubeck, who has sandy grey hair, a goatee, and square glasses, explained that the organization stemmed from student complaints about a sociology class that he was teaching in 1998, World Society.

“The student evaluations for the class said ‘This is a great class. It changed my life, but it’s so depressing. Lubeck should provide Prozac,’” Lubeck said. “Others said I was a hypocrite for not suggesting an alternative [solution] for students.”

Lubeck reacted and formed the idea of getting students involved in order to address these changes using technology. “In ‘98-’99, we began to imagine a civil society project to train students to use information technology to democratize globalization, to advance social justice,” he said.

After 12 years, GIIP has transformed from an idea to a full-fledged academic program. Last summer, GIIP became a major and a minor. The sociology department now includes an honors major and minor, Global Information and Social Enterprise Studies (GISES), that is modeled after GIIP. Lubeck said that this program was lucky to come into existence, as it was approved right before the beginning of the large budget cuts across the University of California.

After spending time in the program, many GIIP students take a leadership role in the organization, becoming what GIIP calls “Fellows.”

“Fellows … are selected by existing Fellows, and commit five hours [a week] of unpaid labor to building GIIP,” Lubeck said. They hold office hours, organize the program’s administrative tasks, and some teach the tech skills they have learned to other students.

All UCSC students are eligible to get involved with GIIP, not just those who desire to become Fellows or students who declare the GISES major or minor.

Every year, GIIP offers a three-quarter class series called Sociology 30A, 30B, and 30C, which are taught by faculty members and GIIP Fellows.

“Each quarter, we teach something a little different,” said Cat Priestly, a second-year politics major from Cowell College and GIIP Fellows coordinator.

Students learn about the different types of social activism, how to write project proposals, and tech skills like web design and managing mass text messaging campaigns.

“The first quarter is mostly the theory of social entrepreneurship and the sociology behind helping people,” she said. “There is so much more that goes into it than showing up and giving someone a computer.”

After studying global economic underdevelopment and examining its causes, GIIP students are required to write their own plan to implement social change using technology.

Plans can be based anywhere in the world, and students spend the next two quarters refining and developing it. They then learn the practical skills to implement this project by writing a detailed project plan, heavily critiqued by GIIP faculty and Fellows. The next step is writing grants to fund their project.

“If you work in any organization, you have to learn how to write in this really concise way to get your point across to funders, and have to learn how to use their language and their framing and structure,” said Cat Priestly, describing the technical details of a grant proposal.

To finance their projects, students can receive some money from GIIP, but also must pitch their ideas in the form of grants to other nonprofits or foundations.

Each quarter, classes meet twice a week. In one class, students work in a tech lab, learning skills like website design, organizing computer data, and digital story telling. On the other day, students learn the empirical approaches to social activism, flesh out their proposals, and learn grant-writing techniques.

“I feel like I’m getting something done and doing something important,” said first-year GIIP Fellow Anna DeChant one afternoon while holding her office hours. DeChant is currently designing a project to help set up online medical records.

“The classes give you tools that are actually useful,” DeChant, a health sciences major from Merrill College, added.

Text-knowledge-y

GIIP is a model for training a new generation of social activists. While carrying the same passions for justice and sustainability, these new community organizers do not hold a clipboard or hand out pamphlets. Instead, they communicate through text messages and e-mail, and connect through websites, blogs, and Twitter. Now, an iPhone or an Android phone can do what mass mailings or a telephone drive could only dream of. An online presence for nonprofits like a website or social networking page can allow for possible donors and followers worldwide to stay tuned in.

This new community organizer is not only passionate, but technologically sharp, able to create websites, use social networking tools for mass communication, and then blog about the work.

Ian Anderson, a third-year GISES and mechanical engineering major from Cowell College, is a GIIP Fellow and co-teaches a GIIP class about text messaging and other communication strategies. Last summer, he traveled to Nigeria on his GIIP-sponsored project to teach nonprofits how to utilize new technologies. While in Nigeria, Anderson collaborated with several other nonprofit organizations, including the Santa Cruz-based International Health Program.

“I used different technologies, and showed what technologies they could get online for free or with minimal costs,” he said.

“Many nonprofit organizations in Nigeria had little or no money,” Anderson added.

By using the internet, these organizations could download programs cheaply to build a web presence for an organization, organize a mass text messaging campaign for medical care, or create electronic medical records systems for the local Nigerian communities.

“[I taught] blogging with WordPress, or, more generally, how to set up a Web site and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook,” Anderson said.

Anderson also taught these organizations how to mass communicate through cell phones, using a similar lesson plan to the one he is currently teaching to other GIIP members.

In many developing countries, cell phones have become an inexpensive way to communicate. In most countries, there are no cell phone plans, like in the United States, but many people can buy calling cards that are relatively cheap. In 2008, the New York Times reported that there were over three billion mobile phone users in the world, and the number is rapidly growing. Much like the ones used by college students in the United States, many of these phones have an essential function: text messaging. This source of almost instant communication is beginning to be utilized by organizations and governments to distribute information to vast quantities of people.

“There is a whole group of mobile applications — [like] FrontlineSMS — tools to help you manage text messaging campaigns for education,” Anderson said.

He continued, “You can send out information to AIDS patients, telling them when to take their drugs, send text messages to everyone in a certain area saying this is what services a clinic offers.”

Anderson credited GIIP with opening his eyes to a world of activism. “I didn’t even know this kind of world existed of tech-related nonprofit,” said Anderson, who has been in GIIP since he came to UCSC.

“GIIP gave me the foundations. Either through the classes or through the connections I made at GIIP, I learned everything,” he said.

The Price of Going Global

Sending students across the globe is not easy, and it sure isn’t cheap. On April 29 in Washington D.C., GIIP will launch its first endowment campaign. The kickoff event is a speech by Dana Priest at the University of California’s Washington D.C. campus about emerging technologies in politics and journalism.

“I’m going to be talking about the nexus between technology and social change in Washington,” she said. “I hope to talk about my own work in journalism and how 2.0 investigation tools help print journalism.”

“It’s definitely a Washington view of social change,” Priest added.

The endowment campaign is an effort to raise $10,000, which will be matched, in full, by a donor.

“It’s our big deal right now,” said Cat Priestly, the GIIP Fellows coordinator. “[The campaign] would make us sustainable — we’re all about being sustainable,” she said.

Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign is the most recent and successful example of the melding of social activism and technology. The campaign used text messages and e-mails to raise millions of dollars and to excite its supporters.

“[Obama] had a spectacular model of community organizing and a very storing network base of fundraising at a micro level,” said Professor Lubeck.

This model has proven that it works well, but it has also enthralled those involved in it.

“It’s kind of addicting,” said class co-teacher Anderson, in GIIP’s small, out-of-the-way office.

“Once you start spending your time on social causes, it’s almost hard to justify not doing it,” he added. “I could be going to these classes and try to get a job making a lot of money, but how would that be more successful than doing something that’s going to help other people?”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Teaching Technology

Photo by Morgan Grana.

A volunteer deposits a needle into the biohazard box. The needle shown was among several needles found that day. Photo by Morgan Grana.

A child drops a hypodermic needle into a biohazard box with a poster draped over it that reads “Save Our Shores.” The box is already host to several needles found at the beach that day. The child is volunteering at a cleanup on Main Beach, in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Save Our Shores organizes cleanups throughout the year to preserve the local environment of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.

A Brief History

Save Our Shores is a local nonprofit organization based in Santa Cruz that organizes cleanups and raises awareness of threats to the marine ecosystem. Whether for monthly cleanups, where any community member can participate, or group cleanups, where specific organizations participate, Save Our Shores motivates the community to volunteer to preserve the marine environment in which they live. The organization’s pamphlet reads, “We show them how their actions affect the marine environment, and offer the choice to make a positive impact.”

Save Our Shores has served to facilitate a “thriving and healthy marine ecosystem as a result of an informed and compassionate public” in the Santa Cruz area since they fought offshore drilling on the central coast 20 years ago. In order to prevent offshore drilling, Save Our Shores has traveled across the state since 1985 to gather support for offshore drilling prohibition. The momentum the organization generated during their campaign across California provided support for the establishment of a National Marine Sanctuary. In 1992, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was established, and since the sanctuary’s conception, the organization has influenced cleanup in the protected area they helped establish.

At their watershed cleanups, Save Our Shores provides volunteers with supplies for cleanup; such as receptacles for collecting trash along the waterways, gloves, the biohazard box, and cards to keep tally the types and quantity of trash found. Before letting the volunteers loose on the litter, a Save Our Shores representative gives a short presentation about the amount and types of trash found in marine ecosystems.

“It’s important to help the environment we live in, and especially because Santa Cruz is such a beach town, it is important to keep the ocean ecosystem thriving and healthy,” said Tori Lord, an intern with Save Our Shores and fourth-year environmental studies major.

Save Our Shores’ office sits on the harbor, its front windows looking out onto the sea of docked sailboats. Here, the nonprofit organizes monthly waterway cleanups throughout the Santa Cruz area, with both specific groups and the general community.

Last year, Save Our Shores collected over 26,000 pounds of trash and 9,000 pounds of recycling, a total that was reached by adding up the quantity of trash collected from all of the cleanups they run throughout the year.

Trash collected at local waterways contributes to this amount. Save Our Shore’s mantra, “Awareness, Advocacy, Action,” is now being directed at the rivers as well.

“We are starting to run more river cleanups, because they are in much worse condition,” said Emily Glanville, Program Manager at Save Our Shores. “We’re really focusing our education on pathways of pollution. I think we have gotten people to not litter on the beach, but we want to foster that kind of awareness for all watersheds.”

Photo by Morgan Grana.

A Shifting Focus

Save Our Shores has begun to focus on rivers and all waterways in the area because they eventually lead to the ocean and are contributing to the amount and type of debris found on the beaches and in the marine habitat.

“Our beaches are getting cleaner because we run a ton of beach cleanups. We hope that it is because of the awareness [we’ve raised],” Glanville said. “Our rivers are a different story. It is much easier to leave a mess at a river. I think that people have a hard time connecting the trash on the rivers and the harm that it causes.”

Despite Save Our Shores’ increased involvement in river cleanup, it has not decreased its involvement with ocean conservation. They still conduct the same number of ocean cleanups.

Glanville said that the high levels of traffic and people that frequent the rivers furthers the importance of their involvement with that endeavor. The debris found at the rivers includes heavier objects, such as tires, washers, dryers and other various household items. The trash typically found on the beaches usually consists of significantly lighter items, like cigarette butts and bits of paper.

Much of the garbage picked up at their beach cleanups — like the one at Main Beach — is in fact attributed to runoff from rivers. For example, the San Lorenzo River pours into the ocean at Main Beach and deposits trash from the river onto the shore.

Needles, like the one found at the Main Beach cleanup, are among the various types of copious amounts of trash found at watersheds and oceans throughout the Santa Cruz area. They indicate how the beaches and the rivers are connected.

“It’s weird, cigarette butts used to be the main thing, now we are finding more condoms and syringes,” said Jessica Glanz, an intern with Save Our Shores, as she stands behind the table, instructing volunteers on the proper methods of trash disposal at Main Beach. Glanz is a Clean Boating and Sustainable Seafood Intern with Save Our Shores and a third-year marine biology major at UC Santa Cruz.

Inhabitants along the rivers may be contributing to the increased presence of needles and other drug paraphernalia being found on the beaches.

“There might be a few people who use on the beach but it is from the homeless encampments on the river and then the river washes them into the ocean,” said Dennis Gagne, Save Our Shores volunteer.

Save Our Shores does not intervene with homeless encampments, but they do acknowledge the damaging effects of such infrastructure on the environment.

“We don’t ever break up homeless encampments. It’s a hard situation that I feel has not been addressed correctly,” Glanville said. “From an environmental perspective, it is bad to have people living along the river without bathrooms, but without the proper infrastructure coming from the city and county, there isn’t anywhere for these people to go.”

Many volunteers at the beach cleanup brought their children with them, and one volunteer braved bringing their stroller onto the sand. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Volunteers for Save Our Shores looked throughout the beach for tiny pieces of trash mixed in all with the wood. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Getting Their Hands Dirty

To facilitate community involvement, Save Our Shores works with community organizations ranging from grade school children to adult sport leagues, coordinating things like beach adoption. In the adoption process, an organization will adopt a local beach and then participate in a minimum number of beach cleanups at their locale.

One blustery February afternoon, at the cleanup aforementioned, nearly 30 Santa Cruz Roller Derby Girls and members of their families showed up to their newly adopted beach, Main Beach, to do one of the three mandatory beach clean-ups required as part of the adoption process. Main Beach is a place that many of the Derby Girls have frequented.

“A lot of our girls grew up here and have an affinity for the beach and keeping the beach cleaned up,” said Derby Girl Salt Ann Battery. “Having grown up here, a lot of us want to help out and because Santa Cruz supports us, we want to show that we are thankful and set an example of community support.”

The cleanup illustrated the intertwined relationships of the community, the beaches and the rivers.

Talking Trash

Save Our Shores works with groups of children frequently, and in light of the debris being found, volunteers are fearful for the youth present at the cleanups.

At the office, Kate Purcell, volunteer coordinator with Save Our Shores, described how the dangerous debris is especially a cause for concern at cleanups with school groups.

“Needles and syringes have increased and it is really worrisome for us, because we have so many school groups who go out,” Purcell said. “It is just scary.”

The possibility of needles and syringes lurking beneath the surface has prompted the staff at cleanups to make a request to children at play.

“Sometimes we recommend that kids don’t dig, because there might be hidden danger. To me, that’s just so sad,” Purcell said. “One of those quintessential childhood experiences is threatened because of the mess.”

Save Our Shores has each volunteer carefully mark what items they collect at cleanups to ensure a thorough bookkeeping of the type and amount of trash collected at each cleanup. The removal of syringes and needles factor in to keeping the beaches safe.

“The state beaches would be pretty dismal without the beach cleanups,” Purcell said. “Save Our Shores is really providing a service to the community. We’re keeping them safe. People don’t realize that cleaning the beaches keeps it safe for children.”

As of mid-March this year, Save Our Shores had collected a total of 2,764 pounds of trash, and 797.5 pounds of recycling at their 18 beach cleanups and 11 river cleanups.

Their close tally of the types of litter picked up at the cleanups allows them to generate accurate and helpful breakdowns of the data.

The top five items picked up at the cleanups, are as follows: 8,230 Styrofoam pieces, 6,545 plastic pieces, 4,025 cigarette butts, 2,503 plastic food wrappers, and 2,430 glass pieces.

The amount of trash that Save Our Shores removes from all watersheds reflects the organization’s role in continuing to preserve the sanctuary they fought so hard to establish 20 years ago. The nonprofit continues to preserve the community and ocean ecosystem that hundreds of marine animals and nearly 700,000 people that live along the Monterey Bay coast call home.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Saving the Sanctuary

Illustration by Louise Leong.

The Front Street location where the Santa Cruz needle exchange used to operate is now a meeting site for Alcoholics Anonymous.

After 14 years of operating, the Drop-In Center closed in September 2009.

By the last two weeks of September, Street Outreach Supporters (SOS) was already making home deliveries, and by October was exchanging needles at sites around Santa Cruz.

SOS is a collectively-run, all-volunteer organization that operates the needle exchange program in Santa Cruz. They provide free syringes for intravenous drug users in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and other blood-borne diseases like Hepatitis B and C. Their volunteers drive vans out into neighborhoods, providing services to participants at fixed locations four days a week.

Because the organization operates without state funding, the group relies on small private grants and community fundraisers to continue these services.

“Last year state funding went from substantial to zero, but the need for needle exchange was still there,” said a volunteer who wished to remain anonymous.

On Saturday, April 3, more than 100 people, many of them UC Santa Cruz students, packed inside of a house on 215 Storey Street to raise money for SOS. Three bands played from 8 p.m. until midnight, with an audience spilling out onto the back porch and into the yard.

Events like these help keep SOS supplied with syringes, condoms and basic hygiene items like shampoo and socks.

In addition to concerts, an Alleycat bike race and a silent auction were held to help supplement several small private grants the organization has received. Because syringes are relatively inexpensive — some distributors sell them for nine cents each or less — the money raised at these events makes a big difference to the group.

Despite favorable turnouts to these fundraisers, the responses from certain parts of the community have not always been as supportive. In past years, police ticketed three volunteers, and concerns have been raised that the needle exchange program introduces more unaccounted needles into the community.

Savannah O’Neill, a fourth-year community studies major and SOS volunteer, says the group takes precautions to ensure that needles distributed by the group do not endanger the community. She remembers one concerned woman who contacted the needle exchange program after finding a syringe near her home.

SOS promptly offered to clean up the site and the situation was defused.

SOS also has other methods of limiting the hazards of discarded needles.

“People have to bring used needles to get [new] needles back,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill is one of the many students and alumni who are involved with SOS. Before the drop-in site was shut down in September 2009, two of the last three paid employees were UCSC graduates.

“The real manpower of the Drop-In Center for many years was from UCSC,” the anonymous volunteer said.

Student Health Outreach and Promotion (SHOP), the on-campus organization that promotes safer sex practices and provides free HIV testing and discounted condoms, has recently focused on this relationship between the needle exchange and UCSC students. In addition to carrying fliers for SOS sites, SHOP has also hosted workshops where volunteers from SOS educate participants about needle exchange in Santa Cruz, and larger national and global efforts.

Lidi Armenta, an HIV peer test coordinator with SHOP, said of SOS: “We are aware of needle exchange being a necessary component of harm reduction, and since SHOP is all about that, we support SOS.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Needle Exchange Weathers Economic Hardship

In the SCAP food pantry volunteer Justin White, a Cowell first-year, describes how various individuals and organizations host food drives for the organization and stock the pantry. Photo by Alex Zamora.

SCAP Executive Director Merle Smith has piloted the organization through recent budget cut woes, and credits the work of student volunteers with much of the group’s success. Photo by Alex Zamora.

Photo by Alex Zamora.

Photo by Alex Zamora.

Students lined the aisles in the Biology of AIDS classroom on the last day of lecture, cash in hand, ready to turn in their final projects. About 130 students of the 294 enrolled in the class chose to raise $100 each for the Santa Cruz AIDS walk instead of turning in a term paper for the class, to help fund the efforts of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP).

As they waited, the students compared fundraising success stories and nightmares, from the aunt who generously gave $50 to the neighbor whose dog chased them out of the house before they could even ask for a donation. Every dollar they raised and experience they relayed spoke volumes of what they’d learned about AIDS outside the classroom this quarter. And every dollar would become part of the almost $15,000 donation the students of UC Santa Cruz made to the 20th annual Santa Cruz AIDS Walk in 2010, which will take place this Saturday, April 10.

Public health care in California has suffered since the recent state budget cuts, and the funding for AIDS programs has been no exception. SCAP, which puts on the AIDS walk every year, was dealt a crushing blow when funding for HIV/AIDS education and prevention was cut completely from the state budget after California slashed $85 million from AIDS programs last year.

California has consistently had high HIV/AIDS infection rates. The Center for Disease Control ranked the state second highest among the 50 states in cumulative reported AIDS cases in 2008. Because of the prevalence of infection in California, the decrease in funding for these programs has hit organizations like SCAP hard. SCAP Executive Director Merle Smith said the organization has since been kept afloat by the efforts of the Santa Cruz community, especially volunteers from UCSC.

“We could not manage without the support we get from the community,” she said. “The support of the community and the support we get from students, the free labor, it literally keeps us going.”

For years both local and student volunteers have played a huge role at SCAP. The organization was founded by a group of concerned citizens in the early 80s at a time when the AIDS epidemic was ravaging the country, Santa Cruz County included. The organization is in its 25th year of operation, and with the help of student volunteers, has weathered the storm of the recent cuts to their state funding to provide much-needed services to the community.

Though some programs have fallen victim to lack of funding, SCAP continues to offer HIV testing, mentoring and a food pantry and transitional housing, among other important services, from their new offices on Front Street in downtown Santa Cruz. The unspecatacular building looks much like any other professional office, and the plain façade doesn’t even hint at the exceptional work that goes on inside.

Every quarter, about 50 students from various classes and majors make room in their packed schedules to devote a minimum of two hours each week to helping the community cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS.

Volunteer Coordinator Alice H. Sebastian, a UCSC alumna herself, said she works primarily with students from her alma mater and is continuously amazed at the hard work students are willing to put in to help members of the community living with HIV.

“They really are doing everything we’re doing,” Sebastian said of the students she manages.

As she speaks, the unmistakably youthful voices of volunteers float into her cubicle in the SCAP building from the nearby rooms. Her words are occasionally cut by the loud thump of a paper cutter. Even in the days after spring break, the SCAP offices are alive with the energy of students.

The option to volunteer as a final project allows students to put their classroom education into the context of the real world, said UCSC biology professor Mary Zavanelli.

Zavanelli requires students who take her Biology of AIDS class to either commit several hours of their time to volunteer organization like SCAP or write a term paper. Not surprisingly, many students opt to spend time with SCAP rather than sit down to write a multiple-page paper.

“I [am] interested in getting the students out and volunteering in the community, because with an issue as complex as AIDS the only way to understand is to get in to that community,” she said. “It’s more broad than you think it is.”

And Zavanelli’s students do get out, in a big way. Sebastian said the class consistently raises at least $15,000 for the AIDS walk each year. UCSC students also comprise the majority of the walkers.

Sebastian’s words quicken as her professional demeanor gives way to one of excitement while describing the reactions of SCAP clients to student volunteers.

“Clients will come out [to the AIDS walk] and just stop and say ‘Look at all these people who care,’ and there’ll be 300 people and of that 250 of them will be UCSC students,” she said. “And they’ll say ‘Look at all these young people who care.’ That’s a beautiful thing.”

SCAP also has long-standing ties to the school, in many different programs. Sebastian said they regularly employ community studies, health sciences, sociology and psychology students, and they work hard to find a place for each individual.

“If you go to other places to volunteer they’re going to say ‘These are our positions, we’re looking for this number of hours to do these kind of things,’” Sebastian said. “We have a very grassroots-based kind of method to doing our work, and even though it’s 25 years later we’re still uniquely designed to use volunteers.”

After consultation with Sebastian, volunteers are placed in positions that allow them to work within their skill set and area of interest, and apply it to AIDS advocacy. Students primarily interested in health care, for example, will be encouraged to find ways to apply their interest to public service.

Sebastian remembered one student who volunteered with SCAP who took his knowledge of health science and applied it to education and outreach to provide a resource for individuals at the drop-in center to identify if they had a staph infection, and then to find their options for treatment.

Selfless as they are, student interns at SCAP get back just as much as they give. Students who work with the organization gain real-world job experience while still being allowed the flexibility needed to put their education first.

“The vast majority of our volunteers are coming from the UC because of the miraculous combination of educated, driven, competent people who are already so busy they don’t mind shoving in an extra five or 10 hours, but they are in this position where they have these skills but they can’t get paid yet — they’re not certified yet to go get the job,” Sebastian said. “So we’re going to help them while they work at the dining hall on campus, or the grocery store, or the retail shop or as a nanny,” she added. “We’re going to help them build their resume so when it comes time to graduate they’re going have a this great recommendation and great experience.”

Emily Bluffi, who graduated from UCSC this winter with a degree in anthropology, said the work she’s done as an HIV test counselor both on campus and with SCAP has given her invaluable experience for a career in the public health field.

“If you’re going to help people in any sort of personal way, sex education or anything that affects their health, I think you have to have a good understanding of people, have a respect for them and be able to respect where they’re coming from,” she said.

Bluffi also emphasized the importance of volunteering within the Santa Cruz community.

“Your college experience should not just be one-dimensional,” she said. “As a student it’s good to have some kind of volunteer job or in some way connect to the community because once you graduate you’re no longer a student, you’re part of the community.”

Students also benefit from working in the field as it takes their study beyond theory and lecture. UCSC fourth-year politics major Eve Pourzan has been able to channel her interest in women’s access to affordable, high-quality health care into her internship with SCAP as she works to help the organization re-establish a community resource center, their former resource center having been a victim of the governor’s cuts to AIDS programs.

“At an organization such as SCAP, you can see direct results,” Pourzan said. “You work with people, you aren’t five steps removed from the actual progress that is taking place.”

The work Bluffi does as an HIV test counselor is one of the results of Pourzan’s work that she gets to watch happen. The organization was recently able to offer testing for the first time since the HIV testing program was cut this summer, a product of Pourzan and many others’ hard work.

UCSC alumnus Sean Lowry stayed on as a SCAP volunteer well past his school-mandated internship because of the opportunity for hands-on learning it allowed. Despite having graduated, Lowry can still be found lounging in the SCAP lobby talking with volunteers and lending a hand where needed, and he seems to be very much at home in the office as he leans back in a desk chair and explains his reasons for sticking around.

“I finished my internship and kept working here because it was more fun to get independent study credit working here than being in class,” Lowry said. “I felt like I was out in the field for six months doing real work, so going back into the classroom just seemed like a step backward.”

Many students like Lowry receive credit from the university toward their major for their volunteer work. But a lot of them stay on because of the things they get from their internships that don’t go on their transcript. SCAP Executive Director Smith believes that volunteering gives students an opportunity to see their education mean something more than grade points.

“It also gives them an opportunity to feel valued. Because a lot of times students get their education and feel like some of the work they’re doing is just to get through. Where, if they’re here, it’s a personal experience that is probably as rewarding as anything they will ever do in their lives,” she said. “When they’re able to take someone who is suffering from the disease but is also hungry back and help them build a food bag to take home to eat — I think that would be moving to anyone, but especially to a student.”

The value of student volunteers goes beyond the general need for unpaid workers. As new developments in science and medicine change the way AIDS is treated, so does the way society treats AIDS. As new vaccines and medications are developed, the problems of the disease have evolved from a death sentence to managing the diagnosis in daily life.

Sebastian explained that students are uniquely equipped to deal with this new era of AIDS advocacy.

“The beauty of having young student volunteers and interns is they can take all this education and bring a new face to it — it’s a new generation of HIV activists,” she said. “This isn’t the HIV community, this isn’t the group that started this organization, these are new people bringing all this in, and they’re not the ones who watched HIV from the beginning, but there’s this totally new perspective on it and that’s amazing,” she added. “There’s something beautiful about having student interns who are coming in at this time and shifting the concept around HIV activism. It looks different, and it needs to look different.”

The face of AIDS advocacy is changing, providing opportunities for students to make a much larger contribution to society than they have in the past. SCAP’s volunteers are using their education to utilize their skills in ways students haven’t before.

“Youth aren’t just a resource tomorrow,” Sebastian said. “They’re a resource right now.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Students Walk On for AIDS

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, fundraiser! Photo by Rosario Serna.

Alcohol has often been known to heal wounds, especially wounds of the community.

As of last year, even domestic abuse programs felt the sting of statewide budget cuts, giving local nonprofits like the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center (WAWC) a reason to fight back.

Their weapon of choice? Some good old-fashioned tequila.

Felicita “Cita” Rasul, associate development director for the Women’s Center, explained why the organization is holding the March 6 event, appropriately named “Agave Agape” — Agape meaning love that is spiritual rather than sexual in nature.

“We need money to stay open. Right now we’re still furloughed on Wednesdays, so we can’t provide services on those days,” Rasul said. “My assistant director said we needed to do something like wine tasting, but she said ‘I don’t like wine, I like tequila!’”

And although tequila is famously paired with its partners in crime, salt and limes, Rasul explained that this event is all about experiencing the drink from a wine taster’s perspective.

“It’s not for doing shots or getting drunk or crazy, it’s really about tasting the tequila and enjoying it,” Rasul said. “It’s not about encouraging drinking, it’s about learning more about a drink that you already enjoy.”

This past July, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger clipped the remaining $16 million from the state’s Domestic Violence Program, causing groups like the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center to stand up and toast to the fundraising cause.

“We’ve been running on this promise of money,” Rasul said. “We’re applying for lots of grants and just working on gaining support from the community, and people have been very generous.”

Lisa Melloni, a UC Santa Cruz student and intern at the center, is one of many people putting the event together and running the center daily.

“I’ve been organizing all of the donations that have been made, and making phone calls and serving people at the event,” Melloni said. “It seems like I could learn a lot from here.”

Rasul discussed tequila’s origin from the agave plant, and the various types of tequila that will be available at the event.

“The three basics are blanco, anejo, and reposado,” she said. “Some of them are aged in whiskey barrels or bourbon barrels, so that’s where the different flavors come in. There are so many tequilas out there — they have their own nuances just like different wines, and a lot of people don’t really know that.”

Melloni is a fan of the Don Julio brand, which will be available at the tasting. She said that there will be about five companies in attendance, each serving two or three different kinds of tequila.

Rasul explained that along with tequila tasting, Agave Agape will offer wine and beer as well as Nuevo Southwest Grill catering, a silent auction and raffle prizes.

“We have a basket of Newman’s Own Organics, we have movie passes, and a lot of the local companies that have supported us are donating items as well,” Rasul said.

Rasul said that initially, the idea of a fundraiser centered on alcohol spelled trouble to the Women’s Center administrators. Recognizing the thin line they walk, the organizers are making an effort to keep the event as comfortable as possible.

“We had a lot of conversations about the appropriateness of having a tequila-tasting event, or any event including alcohol, aligned with the services we offer,” Rasul said. “The center of a lot of people’s trauma stems from alcohol abuse.”

Rasul stated that they plan to make the event as safe as possible, with car services available to take people home if they end up having too much fun.

The fundraiser’s projected 100-plus turnout helps Women’s Center staff members see the benefits of working in this environment even with a withering budget.

Melloni described the priceless feeling of helping women in the community each and every day, and said resources like the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center need as much support as possible.

“I’ve talked to some of the women that come in here. It really makes a difference in their lives,” Melloni said. “These women help them when they come in here and make them feel understood.”

And even though the fundraiser promises a good time, what it really boils down to — for Rasul and others associated with the nonprofit — is the ability to keep the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center running strong even on its shaky feet.

“Right now we are just raising money to keep the doors open and make sure that our services are available,” Rasul said. “It’s really important to support our families that we serve.”

~~~~~~

The event will be held at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) at the McPherson Center on Saturday, March 6. Cost is $75 per person. For more information, please call (831) 426-3062.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Agave Gives Back

Photo by Kathryn Power.

Nonprofit organization Save Our Shores uses one of its many beach clean-up events to show that despite the presence of trash cans on the beach, littering still remains a problem. Photo by Kathryn Power.

Nonprofit organization Save Our Shores held close to 400 beach clean-ups last year in Monterey Bay alone, preventing 79,000 pounds of trash and recycling from entering the ocean.

This year members expect similar results from their volunteer program, the steward/docent training program, which kicks off on Feb. 23 and continues through April.

After the prospective stewards/docents finish their training in subjects like marine conservancy and marine life, they are required to complete 50 hours of volunteer work by December.

Volunteer work generally includes hosting beach and river clean-ups, quantifying trash, and educating community members about their impact on marine life.

“We’re really looking for leaders and people that can represent Save Our Shores in a professional way,” said Kate Purcell, the program’s volunteer coordinator. “We’re looking for mature professionals.”

The class and training program meets weekly to hear lectures on subjects like Monterey Bay habitats and pollution prevention.

Steve Pleich, a graduate of the steward/docent volunteer program, supports the program’s goals for a healthier ocean and intends to work with Save Our Shores for many years to come.

“Every day that you do something for Save Our Shores is a day that the marine sanctuary is protected,” Pleich said.

Save Our Shores was founded 31 years ago and has been hosting its steward/docent volunteer program for the past 15 years. The organization has held monthly beach clean-ups since its founding, and encourages the public and the university to participate. It also offers for-credit internships to college students.

“There aren’t a lot of other opportunities that allow people to get connected very physically doing community service or volunteer work,” Purcell said. “Not only are we educating people, we are also engaging them in a solution.”

Besides their monthly scheduled clean-ups, volunteers also educate in classrooms and at special events, including the city’s Independence Day celebration. Volunteers who graduate from the program can look forward to helping out on the biggest clean-up of the year.

“It’s a really emotionally charged day because the beaches are just piled high with trash,” Purcell said.

The stewards and docents spend all day on July 4 walking around the beach handing out bags and encouraging people to pack their trash. They spend July 5 collecting the trash that was left behind. For marine life and ocean livelihood, this is very important.

“They not only collect, they quantify what kind of trash is being collected,” said Steve Lonhart, senior scientist and researcher for the marine sanctuary in Santa Cruz. “So if you’re getting lots and lots of one kind of debris, then you inform the public about that and ultimately it brings around a change in practice.”

Lonhart said the main animals affected by the mass quantities of trash being dumped into the ocean are birds that mistake shiny plastics for krill, and turtles that mistake trash bags for jellyfish.

But it’s not just plastic that’s being collected. In fact, cigarette butts are the most prevalent type of marine debris found at beach clean-ups by Save Our Shores stewards.

“Any effort to reduce the input of foreign material into the ocean is a good thing,” Lonhart said. “If they didn’t do it, all that material they collect … doesn’t degrade very readily. That can have very dire consequences for the birds and turtles.”

And most stewards like Martel Anderson, who is a graduate of the 2009 class, are very dedicated to ocean conservancy. Last year for her birthday, Anderson wrote to all her friends and family, asking them to donate to Save Our Shores instead of buying her gifts. That charitable act alone raised almost $600 for the program.

“Most of us have the ocean on our list of things to be thankful for,” Purcell said, “but Save Our Shores offers people the next step to give back.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Save Our Shores Cleans Up

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The number seven has never been so unlucky. With the fury of a 7.0 earthquake, the country of Haiti was left in complete devastation on Jan. 12. Buildings crumbled and thousands of bodies were left for dead beneath the rubble.

With the wide-eyed hopefulness for a new decade, we watched as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere emerged out of the tragedy and extended its arms out for help. And since 80 percent of the country’s nine million residents live in poverty, help from all sides is no longer a question, but an ethical duty.

The 21st-century phenomenon of social networking has spread through the news like an electric current, shocking people around the globe with the quake’s horrific severity.

Facebook, Twitter and iPhone news applications have kept the masses constantly updated on the amount of people rescued, trapped and killed, not to mention news of looting, blocked seaports, and collapsed shantytowns.

By promoting its text-message campaign through social networking sites to raise relief money, the Red Cross has raised over $21 million thus far, shattering all records of any other previous mobile giving.

Besides the Red Cross, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, set up by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, also allows cell phone users to send text-message donations. It’s a hopeful idea knowing that in times of crisis, even two opposite extremes of the political spectrum can come together to salvage a broken country.

The ability to utilize our social networking system in a way that can save thousands upon thousands of lives is a blessing that can connect Third and First World nations, and ultimately, save those thousands of lives within hours.

Although student fees have skyrocketed an extra 32.5 percent from last quarter, members of the University of California should still make a donation or travel abroad to help with relief efforts.

In wake of the crisis, the UC Office of the President reiterated that one of their insurance policies provides coverage to students and employees who travel to Haiti for official humanitarian relief and support organizations. Although students would have to purchase their own plane ticket, they should consider this insurance coverage an advantage and make the trip.

The crisis in Haiti deserves all of the help it can get.Granted, any help, whether via text message or from UC-funded volunteers, is needed and appreciated in disastrous times like these.

Regardless of student discomfort regarding the current fee hikes and spending reductions, the real terror and discomfort lies in Haiti at the moment. We as students need to take the time to help any way we can, whether it’s by sending out a $10 text donation or flying over there with help from the UC. Budget cuts are important but people’s lives are vital, and it is with this urgency that we must remember that as much as we need to help ourselves, we must always remember to help each other.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Mending A Broken Haiti

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

The starving, swamped, selfish student: we’ve all played the role before.

“I’d like to, but I don’t have any change,” we tell the homeless person on Pacific on the way to the Del Mar Theater.

“I want to, but I don’t have any time,” we tell ourselves when we have too many tests to study for, hours to waste on Facebook, and drinks to chug down with our friends instead of volunteering at a local nonprofit.

“It’d be nice, but I have nothing to spare,” we rationalize, despite the fact that we have a closet full of clothes, half of which we never wear.

With the arrival of the holiday season, it’s time to cast ourselves out of such self-created situations. Although we may struggle to pay the tuition fees ourselves, living modestly instead of lavishly, the truth is we have more going for us than against us than we might think.

Since we’ll be out of school for the break, let’s use this time to rethink our abilities to give and volunteer and most importantly, just to notice what is going on in the world outside of our own reality.

Homeless shelters and food banks can always use volunteers and donations. Doing this with a friend, or even a date, makes for a unique memory for the both of you. Toys for Tots and similar organizations give underprivileged children a chance to enjoy a special treat they might not get during the year. Consider having your family give gifts to these organizations instead of another gift to you that will just sit in the closet or on the shelf collecting dust.

Giving can also be much more local, low-key and less costly than other gifts. Quality time makes a great present. Reconnect with neighbors over homemade cookies. Cook with a grandparent and share stories and recipes of their past. Distract your younger siblings from the video consoles by playing real tennis instead of on their Wii console. Make someone’s day by giving nothing more than time and sincere, heartfelt attention.

Small actions have big impacts. Smile. Hug. Say “Thank you.” Don’t miss an opportunity to tell — or show — someone you care.

So forget that you’re an overworked, broke, unfortunate college student, barely getting by in the crazy UC budget mess. Remember that at the end of the day, everyone is trying to get by and we should do our best to make it easier, more pleasant and rewarding by giving whatever we can.

Online resources:

Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz:
http://www.scvolunteercenter.com
This website lists ongoing Santa Cruz volunteer and internship opportunities.

Volunteer Match
http://www.volunteermatch.org
Search local volunteer events by area. Search in Santa Cruz or in your hometown.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Kindness is Free

~~~~~

Santa Cruz AIDS Project

Although food drives are not specific to the holidays at SCAP, food donations are more than welcome year-round. Volunteers keep a well-stocked food bank on site and available to all clients. Toilet paper, shampoo and other personal items are also appreciated.  SCAP will be hosting a food drive outside the downtown Santa Cruz Trader Joe’s on Saturday, November 21. Shoppers will be given SCAP’s wish list of items needed for the food bank. SCAP is located at 313 Front St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95060 and can be reached by phone at (831) 427-3900.

Second Harvest Holiday Food Drive

In light of the 20 to 30 percent increase in requests for food aid, food drive organizers at Second Harvest are hoping to collect 2 million pounds of food for this year’s annual Holiday Food Drive. Companies, organizations and groups are encouraged to pick up a barrel provided by Second Harvest and collect as much food as possible. Solo participants are welcome to make monetary donations online, where $1 can provide $9 worth of food, or a square meal for a family of five. The drive will benefit low-income families, seniors and disabled people all over Santa Cruz county, and will continue until mid-December. To apply for a barrel or for more information, contact Bly Morales at (831) 722-7110 x 226 or to make a donation, visit Second Harvest’s website at http://www.thefoodbank.org.

Alliance for Children: Give a Kid a Coat

A non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz, Alliance for Children focuses its generosity on keeping local kids warm. The group, which provides coats for low-income families and children who cannot afford warm outerwear, is hoping to exceed the 800 coats collected in last year’s drive. The drive calls for both cash and gently used coat donations for Santa Cruz children between the ages of 1 and 18, and will run until the end of the month. To donate a coat, contact Eileen Donnelly at leeniebug@hotmail.com or send check donations to Coats for Kids, 515 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.

~~~~~

Donation Centers in Santa Cruz

Click for larger image. Illustration by Maggie McManus.

There are many other donation sites around the city to remember as we embark on our holiday giving endeavors. These organizations accept food, coats and other goods all year long.  Happy donating!

New Life Center
707 Fair St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-427-1007

River St. Shelter
733 River St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-459-6645

St. Francis
205 Mora St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-459-6712

Homeless Community Resource Center and Page Smith Community House
115 Coral St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-458-6020

Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center
195 Harvey West Blvd., CA 95060
831-459-1700

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Give a Little Love

The UCSC chapter of Global Brigades, founded by fourth-year students Ida Shahidi and Daniel Truong, addresses problems such as medical care, access to clean water and microfinance in developing countries. Photo by Devika Agarwal.

Heather Nicholson wouldn’t have predicted two years ago that she’d spend a week of summer pulling out teeth — but she did.

Nicholson, a fourth-year community studies major from College Eight, had the chance to provide medical care to residents of Honduras last June along with other student members of the UC Santa Cruz chapter of Global Brigades.

Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led international development organization, is a nonprofit with chapters in many states. Global Brigades is the overarching name for nine types of brigade, each of which addresses different issues that face rural communities in Central America.

The UCSC Global Brigades chapter took its first trip to Honduras last year with the Medical Brigades, but this year it has expanded to include Public Health, Water and Microfinance Brigades as well.

With Medical Brigades, students set up a temporary health clinic and get the chance to actually treat incoming patients and administer medicine. Students also fundraise for medications and recruit doctors before leaving.

“A lot of people you’ll see have never been to a doctor or have to walk far distances on foot,” said Ally Barnes, a member of the Global Brigades Empowerment Team who came to speak at UCSC.

Thirty percent of Hondurans receive no health care, and 53 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Health Organization.

“You really see the impact you’re making … They really care that you’re there,” said College Eight fourth-year Ida Shahidi, co-founder and co-president of the UCSC chapter.

The UCSC chapter of Global Brigades was founded last year at by fourth-year College Eight students Shahidi, a bioinformatics major, and Daniel Truong, a neuroscience and behavior major.

Shahidi first learned about Global Brigades when she missed her plane ride home from a vacation in Costa Rica. On the next flight she sat next to the president of the UC Santa Barbara Global Brigades chapter and learned about the organization. Shahidi was immediately interested to see if Global Brigades existed at UCSC.

“I checked and we didn’t have it, so we started it,” she said. “If I hadn’t missed my plane this never would have started.”

Shahidi asked Truong if he would be interested in co-founding the organization at UCSC, and he agreed.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun,” Troung said of leading the group.

Together they are responsible for organizing fundraisers, recruiting students and doctors and making travel arrangements.

“It’s one of those experiences you never forget. The group of students who went got along really well. Everyone worked really hard,” Nicholson said of last June’s trip.

Global Brigades focuses on bringing sustainable solutions to impoverished communities, while respecting local culture.

“It’s important that the people are a part of these changes and they’re educated to continue them. It’s a process of development,” Nicholson said.

Each brigade provides resources and education to address various problems that result from poverty. While students in Public Health Brigades work with individual families and build things like concrete floors, latrines and clean burning stoves, Water Brigades work to sanitize water and provide water storage systems. Global Brigades is hoping to start an environmental chapter soon at UCSC, and increase student involvement this year.

Global Brigades also provides education about sanitation practices. According to Global Brigades participants, many diseases that plague developing countries like Honduras are preventable and are a result of parasites from lack of clean water or flooring.

“Public Health addresses the issues that cause the problems that are seen in Medical Brigades,” Nicholson said.

The Microfinance Brigades provide donations to a community credit union that then makes a “micro-loan”, sometimes as small as $100, to an entrepreneur to fund their business. Often, successful entrepreneurs donate money back to the credit union, providing other community members with start-up funds.

Microfinance has been successful in other developing countries, including many in South America and Africa. It is seen as a sustainable, long-term solution to poverty, as it funds businesses that can provide a person with a livelihood forever while teaching accountability. Students involved in Microfinance Brigades use their own money as loans and choose who they want their funds to go to.

Katrina Luna, a fourth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology major from Cowell College, plans to participate in Medical Brigades this summer.

“Global Brigades provides an outlet for college youth to do something positive in the world,” Luna said. “More specifically, I think it’s great that Global Brigades is not only providing help, but providing the tools to maintain that needed infrastructure.”

~~~~~

Non-students and students from any major are able to participate in the June trip to Hunduras with the UCSC chapter of Global Brigades. For more information about the trip and the organization, go to http://gmbslugs.weebly.com.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Students Bring Sustainable Development to Rural Honduras

Over 200 ghoulish figures gathered downtown to dance as part of the Thrill the World event, which boasted 30,000 participants worldwide. Photo by Isaac Miller.

Hundreds of “zombies” congregated at Cooper St. and Pacific Ave. to Thrill the World on Oct. 24. Bloodstained and boiled dancers of all ages simultaneously got down to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” at exactly 5:30 pm, synchronizing with thousands of dancers from 34 countries and 250 cities worldwide.

“That was pretty much the most amazing thing ever,” said one of the hundreds of spectators, lined up on Cooper St. watching the spectacle.

This is the third year of the Thrill the World event, founded by Canadian dance instructor Ines Markelle, and the second time the dance has been organized in the Santa Cruz area. Last year, the international event set a world record for the Largest Thriller Dance with 4,179 dancers.

This year, a global entourage of over 30,000 thriller dancers shattered the previous worldwide record.

The sudden increase in participants was apparent at the local level as well. While there were only 10 participants for last year’s Santa Cruz event, 250 people attended this year, according to local event organizer, Quelddy Culver. In addition to hundreds of participiants, hundreds of spectators lined the streets to watch.

“Part of [the increase in participants] has to do with Jackson’s passing and the resurgence of his popularity,” Culver said. “But also, dancing is a language we can all speak.”

This message was clear to those who danced, and served as an inspiration to many.

“I’ll do anything for Michael Jackson,” said dancer Tiffany Worthington. “It is an awesome way to remember him. [This] is what he wanted, for us to connect everyone.”

The Thrill the World organization encouraged each local ensemble to collect money and contribute it to a local charity. The proceeds of Santa Cruz’s Thrill the World were donated to Mariposa’s Art, a local non-profit organization that focuses on art and education.

Culver, who has been organizing this event since June, felt donating to Mariposa’s Art was a worthy cause.

“With all of the funding they lost from state budget cuts, I thought [this event] was a perfect fit,” Culver said.

The $600 in proceeds, collected from participants and a makeup booth run by Mariposa, will help them run afterschool programs centered on the arts, music and leadership skills for K-12 students.

Jen Barker, a Mariposa volunteer who helped apply blood, guts and stitches to the ghouls and dancing dead, noted that the organization hoped to provide more than just thrills.

“Mariposa’s mission was to promote a healthy lifestyle, a good body image and big dreams,” Barker said.

Founded 11 years ago in Santa Cruz, Mariposa’s Art runs afterschool art, music and leadership development programs in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties for low-income elementary, middle and high school students.

Rachel Barron, development director for Mariposa’s Art and a 1998 graduate of UC Santa Cruz, explained that the money raised from this event will help fund the organization’s Art and Guitar Teach program.

“This program will instruct 30 high school students on how to teach music and art to elementary and middle school children,” Barron said. “For high school students it is an opportunity for a career-building internship, while the younger students get a positive role model; for both age groups it is an opportunity to use art as a tool to teach life.”

Both dancers and organizers were very satisfied with the event and the cause it will benefit.

“I had a great time,” Culver said. “It’s a perfect way to get people to dance while helping a charity.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Thrillin’ for the Arts

Third from left, UCSC alumna Juliet Carpenter participates in a monthly creek clean-up in Kansas City, Miss. Courtesy of Juliet Carpenter.

When First Lady Michelle Obama gave her commencement speech at UC Merced earlier this month, she urged the 430 graduating seniors to give back to their community.

“Dream big, think broadly about your life and please make giving back to your community a part of that vision,” she said to the university’s first graduating class. 

Americorps is a federally funded program that allows students to do just that. It provides recent graduates with an opportunity to give back to their community by essentially working as free employees for nonprofit organizations.

Due to the downturn in the U.S. economy, Americorps is becoming a popular option for college graduates who may not be able to get a job immediately.

 Juliet Carpenter, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz in winter quarter as a history major, is currently working as an Americorps volunteer at Harvesters’ Community Food Network, a food bank in Kansas City, Miss. 

Carpenter decided to join Americorps because she did not feel like she could get a job that paid a salary straight out of college in the poor economy.

 “I did not want to go straight to grad school, so I thought that Americorps would be a good opportunity to get some real-life work experience,” Carpenter said.

Volunteers receive a modest compensation from the federal government for their year of service — a living allowance of $700 to $1,100 per month, depending on the location. In addition, they receive healthcare and a $4,752 education award or a $1,200 stipend. Even though Americorps positions do not promise a large income, they do allow students an opportunity to grow and build resumés in a tough economy.

“Right now I am learning more about data entry and maintaining a donor database, and I enjoy my department and truly feel how important this work is,” Carpenter said.

She eventually wants to earn a degree in public history so she can work for a historical museum, national park or nonprofit. She believes that her experience as an Americorps volunteer will give her the experience necessary to reach these goals. 

The program has grown drastically since President Obama passed the Recovery Act on Feb. 17, which gave Americorps $89 million in grants, enough to expand its volunteer base by 10,000 members. 

Christine Loewe, organizing and marketing coordinator at the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, says the Recovery Act allowed the organization to hire five new Americorps volunteers instead of just one.

“Essentially, we were told that we could have as many Americorps as we could afford taking on, because there has been a flood of new positions opening and money going towards Americorps,” Loewe said. 

Katrina Cope, an adviser at the UCSC Career Center, participated in an Americorps program in New London, Conn. after she graduated from UCSC in the mid-1970s with a B.A. in psychology. 

Cope felt that Americorps had a positive influence on her life and recommends it to graduating seniors.

“It is like doing a year-long internship — you get paid, you get health insurance, you are working like a professional and they do not have you doing grunt work,” Cope said. “They have you doing some real service for the community and you get to test your wings.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Year of Volunteer Service Opens Up World of Opportunities for College Graduates

Two athletes race to the finish line at the Special Olympics 2009 Spring Games at Gunderson High School in San Jose. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

19-year-old Wendy Serrano is nurtured physically and emotionally through Special Olympics. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

Judith Serrano can’t escape the voices — she is haunted by the cupped-hand whispers and blatant stares that follow her like silhouettes as she walks down supermarket aisles and through shopping malls, holding her daughter’s hand. 

As she sits under the deep blue of a cloudless May sky, she speaks solemnly when describing the way people act toward her mentally disabled daughter. “People look at my daughter differently when we take her shopping and they whisper to each other,” Serrano said. “Sometimes I get mad and I say, ‘Shut up, stop talking about my daughter.’”

Serrano’s daughter, Wendy, is a 19-year-old Special Olympics track and field athlete with mental retardation. She is one of 13,000 Special Olympic athletes in Northern California and one of 49 million Americans with a disability, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is also one of many special-needs persons who has fallen victim to human ignorance and found comfort and confidence in participating with Special Olympics of Northern California.

How It All Started

Special Olympics is an international nonprofit organization that conducts competitive sporting events for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It began in 1968 as a day camp in the backyard of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of former President John F. Kennedy and mother of current California First Lady Maria Shriver. 

Now a global campaign promoting awareness and acceptance of persons with disabilities, the program offers 30 Olympic-style sports in nearly 200 countries. 

In Northern California alone, there are 15 different sports that athletes can compete in, including everything from long-distance running and gymnastics to roller-skating and powerlifting. There are six different regions, each encompassing several counties with one or more teams per county. Santa Cruz has two teams that compete in several different sports, including basketball, aquatics and track. 

Coaches, parents and athletes agree that there are many wide-ranging benefits from these different opportunities to participate in Special Olympics, both for the athletes themselves and the volunteers who coach them. 

Audrey Bright, a Cabrillo College student and Special Olympian, receives a medal. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

Audrey Bright is a Cabrillo College student who has been competing in Special Olympics for the past eight years. Her father, Michael Bright, lists the benefits that the organization has held for his daughter.

“Socialization, the sports aspect of it, the fact that she can feel a sense of accomplishment and it gets her out in the community a lot,” Bright said. 

Brittany Guest, a fifth-year health sciences major at UC Santa Cruz and a Special Olympics coach of five years, says the organization helps athletes build confidence and meet people with  conditions similar to their own. 

“It’s a great opportunity for them to be involved and hang out with people that are like them that are dealing with disabilities,” Guest said. “It makes them have more confidence — a lot of these kids are really dependent on their parents and when they have a couple hours to go out with their friends, they socially blossom.” 

For 50-year-old Matt Freeman, a Special Olympics track and field athlete on the Santa Cruz team, building friendships has been the biggest upside.

“I like meeting people, and the coaches are great — you can’t beat ‘em,” said Freeman, who has been with Special Olympics since 1973. 

Guest adds that she gets a lot out of coaching the athletes as well. 

“Honestly, they just bring me so much joy,” she said. “If you’re in a bad mood they’re gonna make you smile. They’re so incredible and high-spirited and so accepting of you and everything about you.” 

Intensive Preparation

Athletes compete in a variety of events, including swimming. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

While Special Olympics athletes may not have the same physical athleticism as their professional Olympian counterparts, the preparation they endure for events is no less intense. They have the same look of concentration on their faces, with a mix of determination for the task at hand as well as pride for what they’ve already accomplished. 

The athletes train for eight to 10 weeks through weekly practices with their coaches before going to a regional competition such as Spring Games, held each year in May. Based on the results at regionals, athletes are then chosen to compete at either the Summer Games or Championships. 

Cindy Blyther, the sports and competition manager for Special Olympics Northern California, said the competitions are what she enjoys most about her job.

“The competitions are where the athletes get to show off their talents,” Blyther said. “This is where all the hours in the office make it worth it, to see the athletes having fun and enjoying themselves at the competitions.”

President Obama’s Blunder: Ignorance is Not Bliss

It happened two months into  President Obama’s term, during his appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.  He began joking about his bowling skills, or lack thereof.

“I bowled a 129,” Obama said with a smile as the audience cheered and applauded. After Jay Leno sarcastically remarked, “No, that’s very good, Mr. President,” Obama delivered his foot-in-mouth remark, replying, “It was like the Special Olympics or something.” 

Although Obama was quick to apologize — he released a statement before the show even aired that night — many politicians and media outlets were just as quick to criticize. Alaskan governor and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose youngest child has Down’s syndrome, attacked Obama for his comment. 

Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver, son of founder Eunice, released a statement that expressed disappointment in Obama’s comment but also said it could be used as a learning experience. 

“Using ‘Special Olympics’ in a negative or derogatory context can be a humiliating put-down to people with special needs,” Shriver said in the statement. “This is a teachable moment for our country. We are asking young people, parents and leaders from all walks of life to engage in conversation and help dispel negative caricatures about people with intellectual disabilities.” 

Parents and coaches of Special Olympics athletes expressed similar sentiments about the president’s gaffe. 

“I was mad,” Judith Serrano said. “It hurts a lot of people, especially parents because we already deal with a lot of people, and when the president makes that kind of comment it’s weird.” 

David Cunningham, assistant aquatics coach for the Special Olympics team at Gunderson High School in San Jose, says that while he doesn’t think that the president meant to say anything hurtful, it was unfortunate that Obama showed his naïveté.

“I don’t think the president of the United States realizes the level of competition and effort put into it,” Cunningham said. “I think we need to get him to some games so he understands the level of competition.” 

Rising Recognition

Ivan Rodriguez, a Special Olympics athlete, stands proud while he receives his award from a San Jose police officer. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

Swimmers receive medals for competing in the 2009 Special Olympics Spring Games in Northern California. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

Many people still remain unaware of Special Olympics of Northern California, despite the fact that they continue to grow in publicity and number of participants. 

UCSC student Guest has been coaching one of the two local Special Olympics teams throughout her entire college career, and said that people on campus are generally unaware of this chance to volunteer in the community. Guest feels this lack of recognition still translates into an overall level of ignorance for persons with disabilities. 

“It’s really hurtful and painful to watch when so many people generalize or make fun of people with disabilities,” Guest said. “They get so much judgment passed on them but they’re usually just so welcoming … and I just wish people would be more accepting.” 

Serrano, whose daughter attends Mission High School in San Francisco, says school has been the biggest challenge for Wendy. 

“The first year she didn’t want to go to school because she didn’t know the people,” Serrano said. “A lot of people were mean to her … her mind is like a 7-year-old and she’s 19, so people made fun of her.”

Jeff Hillgrove of San Carlos says that with his autistic son Ben, it may come down to people not being patient enough to understand.  

“With autism, everything has to be broken down in steps,” Hillgrove said. “Typical kids don’t have the patience for that. … I don’t think they realize how to deal with him.” 

Despite the various obstacles facing public awareness of persons with special needs, many are hopeful that ignorance is gradually diminishing.

“I think [awareness] is getting better because of how prevalent [disabilities are],” Hillgrove said. “I think the public is becoming more aware because it’s hitting them in the face.”

Guest also believes that the public is becoming more understanding and knowledgeable, and she points to a new class being offered at UCSC that may play a significant part in this. 

The upper-division psychology class PSYC 171, titled “Childhood Psychopathology,” explores the developmental and social contexts surrounding various disabilities, and it includes a mandatory volunteering component.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Spirit of a Special Olympian

Illustration by Justin Martinez.

Slugs, food and rock ‘n’ roll.

These three words define UC Santa Cruz’s second annual day-long concert and fundraiser event, Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll.

The knoll of choice, a typically serene, grassy hill located behind Stevenson College, will house a mini music festival this Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., complete with about 10 local performers, pizza, DJ sets and face-painting.

Organized by students, with partial funding from Stevenson Housing, the event aims to bring UCSC students from all ends of campus together to celebrate a common interest in music in the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.

Second-year Ira Goldenring was one of the main coordinators of this year’s event.

“A bunch of us organized ourselves into a group to put together the show,” Goldenring said. “Personally, I dealt with booking bands, organizing set times, hanging posters up all around school, that sort of stuff.”

Although Goldenring did not organize the event last year, he and many others wish to recreate the benefit, making it bigger and better.

“It began in the spirit of charity,” Goldenring said. “Students wanted to give back to the community while organizing something that would be fun, free and local for the whole university.”

Second-year Paulie Dellamano helped Goldenring organize the event this year.

“It’s mainly supposed to be a local thing,” Dellamano said.

Last year’s event had a good turnout, with about 300 people attending over the course of the entire day.

“It was very impressive for a first run,” Goldenring said, “but we are trying to get two or three times the outcome of last year to come on Sunday.”

Dellamano discussed new plans to prepare for this year’s event.

“Last year was really last-minute, but this year has been planned out for a while,” Dellamano said.

Dellamano said  that although last year’s turnout was not as large as expected, and there could have been more donations, Stevenson Housing agreed to match the amount of money made.

Organizers expect a significant difference in the number of attendees this year, as a result of their increase in advertising and upgrade in entertainment.

Dellamano discussed the new additions to Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll for this year.

“[Stevenson Housing] paid for our whole sound system, which is gonna be legit, and money for food that we won’t be selling, but asking for donations [for].” Dellamano said.

Proceeds from these donations will go to the Santa Cruz Homeless Shelter.

“The concert is free but we are asking for a suggested donation of $5 to $10, which will help to feed and house dozens of people who really need it,” Goldenring said. “Just one dollar can give 30 people a hot meal.”

Dellamano also discussed the process of informing UCSC administration prior to the event.

“We had to notify the police department and CSOs because it’s going into the evening,” Dellamano said. “There’ll be pizza, drinks and probably some other activities going on as well.”
Goldenring also commented on the notification process.

“There’s a lot of paperwork,” Goldenring said. “You have to follow guidelines in a major events policy handbook.”

While following these guidelines, as well as keeping the event drug and alcohol-free, Goldenring expects things will run smoothly.

Regardless of the turnout or amount of money made, Goldenring’s goal is to promote community and cooperation.

“I think it is really cool that Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll is student-run and student-imagined,” Goldenring said. “Students had the idea, and students made it into a reality.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll

Camille Stevens and Sarah Dooley, local high-school students, browse the racks of dresses at this year’s prom dress giveaway at the “Prom Dress Boutique” downtown. Photo by Isaac Miller.

While prom is now merely a distant memory for most collegiates, high-school students are knee-deep in the action of making plans for the big night. 

However, hunting down a beautiful, affordable dress remains a challenge for many.

In recognition of the need for affordability in a financially depressed economy, City Councilmember Tony Madrigal and Classic Cleaners sponsored their first prom dress giveaway last weekend to help high-school girls tackle the daunting task cost-free. Free dresses were offered to any girl who needed one for her big day, no questions asked.

“Attending your high-school prom is a great American tradition,” Madrigal said. “High-priced proms with all the expenses, including clothing and accessories, can very easily make a prom feel out-of-reach, leaving some students feeling left out.”

Over 2,000 dresses were collected through donations from citizens of Santa Cruz County over recent months. Community members were recruited to bring new and gently used dresses to any Classic Cleaners location, as well as other spots around the county set up for the drive. Armfuls of dresses were dished out at three “prom dress boutiques” on Saturday and Sunday in downtown Santa Cruz, Felton and Watsonville.

Aleen Raybin, a youth advocate at the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center (WAWC), expressed appreciation for the generous donations.

“People in Santa Cruz really responded to the drive,” Raybin said. “The community of Santa Cruz really came through.”

Jenn O’Brien-Rojo, the resource development director at the WAWC elaborated on the success of their outreach.

“When they got there to open there were already 10 to 15 girls lined up,” O’Brien-Rojo said of the Felton location.

Girls arrived consistently throughout business hours, bringing along a valued second opinion in the form of a friend or mother. 

Camille Stevens and her friend Sarah Dooley, two local Santa Cruz high-school students, giggled and chattered about their plans for prom while sorting through the silk and satin hanging on garment stands. 

“I’ve been looking forward to prom for many years,” Stevens said. “We’ve had plans to go together since middle school.”

Racks were hung with a rainbow of gowns in all styles, and tables displaying glittering jewelry were stationed next to shelves of high heels awaiting their new owners. 

Some girls had visions of what style they were looking for before they hit the racks. Stevens had a clear thought of what her prom dress would look like.

“My perfect dress would be something similar to a strapless, 1950s formal cocktail dress,” she said.

Others simply knew they wanted something fabulous.

“I really don’t have criteria, it’s really about what makes me feel good,” Sarah Dooley said.

Shoreline Cosmetology School is offering girls free make-up and hair for their special day, one of many local vendors who are donating time and resources. Classic Cleaners contributed much time and effort into making this event happen as well.

“Classic Cleaners have been amazing with all of this,” Raybin said. “They cleaned every single dress before [the giveaway].”

“Elected officials who have a good idea [still] need a team of community volunteers,” Councilmember Madrigal said. “I feel blessed for all the people who made this possible.” 

The organizers and volunteers of the first-ever prom dress giveaway don’t have a definite count yet of how many dresses were handed out, but they are confident the event was not just a success in numbers.

“This will reach way beyond the girls that showed up,” O’Brien-Rojo said. “It will let people know they live in a community that really cares about them, and cares about something as basic as the prom.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at God Bless the Dress