Students Splurge on Volunteering This Holiday Season

Christine Clark | November 8, 2008

Instead of indulging in holiday shopping sprees or snowboarding in the Sierra Nevadas this holiday season, many students at UC San Diego are holding toy-donation drives on campus, working on service projects in Mexico, or contributing their time and talents  in a variety of other ways.

UC San Diego has more than 400 student organizations and more than 70 of them are service-based. These include UCSD Cares and the Associated Students Volunteer Connection, which is working with staff to organize this year’s annual holiday toy drive.  “Our students are generous all year round,” Emily Marx, director of the Center for Student Involvement, said. “It’s no surprise their dedication to serving the community continues to thrive during the holidays.”

UC San Diego pre-med student volunteers set up medical clinics to provide free health care to underserved populations in Tijuana, Mexico.

Students in the Foundation for International Service and Health (FISH) will go to Mexico Dec. 13 to sponsor an elementary school in Tijuana, Mexico. The student group is designed to provide medical aid and other services to underserved populations throughout the world. Fifteen undergraduate students from the organization will set up a free clinic and give out complimentary vitamins, blood glucose tests, and blood pressure tests, as well as free reading glasses, aspirin, parasite pills and antacids.  This is the fifth FISH trip to Mexico this quarter. Most student members of FISH hope to attend medical school, according to FISH president Brian Champagne.

“Volunteering with FISH in Mexico is rewarding because it gives me a chance to use the medical knowledge that I have to help others in need,” Champagne said. “Doing medical tests can help save someone from being hospitalized from hyperglycemia or possibly save a life.”

Students and staff help organize the UC San Diego annual holiday toy drive. On Dec. 17, the volunteers will deliver the toys directly to hospitals.

In November, UC San Diego students and alums helped rebuild the roads in the San Bernardo Colonia in Tijuana. Under the direction of Oscar Romo, a lecturer in the Urban Studies and Planning Program at UC San Diego, the students worked with local residents to build environmentally-friendly paving stones that reduce soil erosion by permitting rainwater to drain through and percolate more slowly through soil. The pavers will cover the dirt roads of the massive canyon neighborhood of makeshift homes, eroded streets and drainage channels. In addition to improving the lives of canyon residents, the pavers will help protect Mexican and U.S. wetlands.

On campus, students and staff are organizing the UC San Diego annual holiday toy drive. The toys are donated to children at the UCSD Medical Center Burn Unit, Kaiser Permanente Pediatric Unit, the UCSD Infant Care Center, UCSD Mother Child and Adolescent Care, and the National City Boys and Girls Club. Throughout December, students and staff help collect new, unwrapped toys at several locations. On Dec. 17, the volunteers will deliver the toys directly to the hospitals. Students and staff dress as Santa Claus and helper elves to deliver the toys to the children. They capture the fun with Polaroid keepsake pictures.

Several student volunteers also held donations drives on campus to help those in need. On Dec. 3, student volunteers sold hot cocoa and hand warmers for the “Warm Christmas” donation drive on Library Walk. Proceeds from the drive will go to Operation Christmas Child. On Dec. 5, students from the Nu Alpha Kappa Greek organization accepted donated toys and clothes on Library Walk and delivered them to local orphanages.