Clean Up Historic China Alley – Hanford, CA

• Benefiting: China Alley Preservation Society
• Hosted by: Stephen Takeda ’80

China Alley is more than just a collection of buildings; it is a testament to the resilience, heritage, and contributions of Chinese Americans in the San Joaquin Valley. Coming together to clean, restore, and care for this space, ensures that its stories are not lost to time but are instead honored and shared with future generations.

This project is especially meaningful to me because of my own ties to USC. My father and two of his brothers were USC alumni, and my mother also attended USC. Having the opportunity to work alongside their fellow Trojans to preserve China Alley, is a full-circle moment – connecting my family’s history, their alma mater, and my lifelong commitment to this community.

While we worked, we took a moment to inhale the history that surrounded us. The walls of these buildings have witnessed generations of families, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who shaped this community. The efforts put forth on Service Day are part of the ongoing story, one of the dedication, the service, and the belief that history is worth preserving.

— Arianne Wing

Mentor and Inspire High School Students – Chicago, IL

• Benefiting: Future Ties
• Hosted by: Dr. Aries Davis ’16 and Michelle Rizal

On March 22nd, the USC Alumni Day of SCervice in the Midwest Region, led by Dr. Airies Davis of EtiKID Academy LLC and co-hosted by Michelle Carl Rizal of Career Headspace, partnered with FutureTies to host an inspiring Mentor Youth Career Day.

Held at FutureTies’ facility, which serves low-income Chicagoland youth, the event brought together 13 USC alumni, over 40 young participants from FutureTies and IMPACT Lives (a boys’ group home), and four corporate vendors: Peoples Bank, Malcolm X College-City Colleges of Chicago Dental Hygiene Program, Chicago Police and Firefighter Training Academy (CPFTA), and City Year.

The day was filled with mentorship, skill-building, and career exploration. Attendees benefited from a powerful personal narrative by USC alumnus Gregory Thompson, a career readiness presentation by Dr. Airies Davis, and hands-on skill-building sessions focused on professional headshots, mock interviews, résumé writing, and career readiness. Participants also enjoyed a networking ‘lunch and learn’ provided by Marissa’s HERbachi, a woman-owned business.

This impactful event equipped youth with essential tools for navigating the professional world, reinforcing the power of mentorship and the strength of the Trojan Family.

Sort Food Donations for Los Angeles Residents – Los Angeles, CA

• Benefiting: Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
• Hosted by: Keck School of Medicine of USC

On behalf of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the Salerni Collegium Alumni Association, and USC Alumni at Northrop Grumman, thank you for signing up for our Service Day at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank!

Whether you were able to attend or not, we appreciate your commitment to giving back. Thanks to your efforts, we bagged 21,987 lbs of cabbage for families and individuals in need. Alongside other volunteer groups that day, we collectively sorted an incredible 71,206 lbs of produce, helping to support the Food Bank’s 600+ agency partners and fight food insecurity in our community.

Thank you again for your time and generosity. We hope to see you at a future service event!

Crafts & Donations for Eaton Fire Families – Alhambra, CA

• Benefiting: Alhambra Unified & Pasadena Unified School Districts
• Hosted by: Sharon Woo ’79

Assemble Easter Baskets & Sort and Organize Donations – Hollywood, Florida

• Benefiting: Grace’s Closet
• Hosted by: Lasana Smith

Serving with GRACE, Inc. extends our heartfelt gratitude to the University of Southern California (USC) alumni group of South Florida for their invaluable contribution during their Day of Service project. Their dedicated efforts in assisting with our annual Easter basket assembly were instrumental in launching this year’s initiative.

Last year, we successfully distributed over 230 Easter baskets to children in our community. This year, with the support of the USC alumni group, we are on track to exceed that number and anticipate distributing at least 300 baskets.

The USC volunteers played a crucial role in preparing and sorting toys, kicking off our process, and ultimately helped to assemble an initial 60 baskets as part of our overall goal. These baskets, filled with toys, treats, candy, and most importantly, love, will bring smiles to many children’s faces this Easter season. We deeply appreciate the time and effort put forth by the USC alumni, and the care they placed in assembling each basket that will make a significant difference in our community. Thank you, USC alumni, for your partnership and commitment to service.

Thanks!

— Evangeline Clarke

Central Park Cleanup – New York, NY

• Benefiting: Central Park – Grand Army Plaza
• Hosted by: Jesse Wang & Amirta Srinivas

I hosted this project to create a space for connection. Moving from LA to NYC in 2022 was challenging—I didn’t live near close friends and often felt isolated. At this event, I realized many alumni felt the same. Even something as simple as picking up trash in a park became a way for us to come together and build community.

— Jesse Wang

Clean and Organize Therapeutic Toys – Torrance, CA

• Benefiting: Momentum Pediatric Therapy Network
• Hosted by: Tamara Hatwan ’89

Thank you to the University of Southern California Alumni for including us in their Annual Alumni Day of Service! It was a success by all accounts as the Trojans took on a renewal project of our sensory tools and toys to support the development of children throughout our Pediatric Services. The children supported in our programs entered this week with a new range of renewed tools to strengthen their abilities and learning. Thanks to all of the amazing volunteers who took on the USC spirit to “Fight on” through every task handed to them to make this day and the inspiring result possible.

— Momentum Pediatric Therapy Network

Qianshuiwan Beach Cleanup – New Taipei, Taiwan

• Benefiting: North Coast and Quanyinshan National Scenic Area
• Hosted by: USC Alumni Club of Taiwan

A total of 23 partners, both young and old, enthusiastically participated in this event, with an attendance rate of up to 121%! Everyone showed their love and responsibility for the environment through their actions. They worked together to pick up 41.6 kilograms of garbage, making this beautiful beach fresh and clean again.

In the warm sunshine and facing the sea breeze, we not only did our part for nature, but also felt full of satisfaction and joy in our hearts. It is really touching to see so many alumni and partners passionately contributing! I hope this experience will become a fond memory for everyone, and I look forward to working together again in the future to continue working for environmental protection.

Thank you to everyone who participated, your contributions make this world a better place!

— Vicky Lee

Hermosa Valley Greenbelt Restoration – Hermosa Beach, CA

• Benefiting: South Bay Parkland Conservancy
• Hosted by: USC Alumni in South Bay

I take Day of SCervice fairly seriously. I think that USC shines on this day, and I really like the concept that all over the world, USC alumni are stepping up and serving in their local communities. I take pride in it. The projects I choose are those that will benefit the actual community of people who will use the facilities (area) that we work on. This year we worked on a very specific project which is reestablishing a once lost butterfly corridor for a butterfly that is unique and only found in our area, the El Segundo/Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly. The corridor is also an overwintering area for Monarch Butterflies; those that stay and do not winter in Mexico. This is one of only a few such areas. It was also once lost.

The volunteers manually weeded and removed non-native plants from the habitat, allowing plants that the Blue Butterfly requires to use on its journey to flourish and be visible and accessible for the butterflies. The alumni, their family and friends were visibly engaged in the project. They seemed to enjoy learning about the importance and delicate balance of the butterfly corridor. The results were like night and day. The Conservancy that is responsible for the restoration of this habitat stated that the 48 Trojans (plus others from other organizations) performed 128 hours of work in four hours. Everyone who walks this greenbelt will benefit from and enjoy the wonderful work that the Trojans performed this spring when the butterflies emerge and make use of this corridor.

— Paulette

Sort Food Donations – San Clemente, CA

• Benefiting: Family Assistance Ministries Food Bank
• Hosted by: USC Marshall Alumni Association – Orange County

It’s a great way to meet other alumni in a different manner than a social only event. And they can bring their children too. So it a good bonding opportunity on many levels. The FAM food bank is a good local charity in South OC but struggles with finding volunteers so any exposure is good for them. The social media exposure that FAM gets in the community by highlighting groups who volunteer helps a lot. The attendees seem to really enjoy it and a family of 4 want to come back and volunteer on a regular basis. 

— Desmond

Spend Time with Children with Intellectual Disabilities – Santiago, Chile

• Benefiting: Fundación Abrazo Fraterno
• Hosted by: USC Club in Chile

I hosted the project because it provided value for the people we spent time with and the USC community in Chile.

— Matías Sepúlveda

Learn about the Needs of People with Visual Impairments – Shanghai, China

• Benefiting: beYoureyeS
• Hosted by: USC Alumni Club of Shanghai

We had our Shanghai Alumni Club Day of Scervice this past Saturday, and I would love to share with you that we had a wonderful event and a great turnout.

We had over 30 alumni show up, some with their families. We collaborated with an NGO organization called “Be Your Eyes,” which helps and serves vision-impaired individuals. During the event we cared for and helped these individuals, while at the same time, our alumni really had a deep experience and gained an authentic understanding of the world that vision-impaired individuals live in every day.

What made this Day of SCervice most meaningful is that all participants are able to take what they have learned while volunteering in order to continue to help vision-impaired people in the future.

The USC Shanghai Alumni Club leadership team really helped put this together. I would love to recognize Blessing, Caroline and Gu Tian for helping organizing this event. And thanks to Miao Ling from our USC Shanghai Office for her continual support.

— Phil Li

Historic Japanese Cemetery Cleanup – Oxnard, CA

• Benefiting: Ventura County JACL
• Hosted by: Janice Tanaka ’77

We were only expecting around 20 people but 45 people showed up. A grant we had paid for Japanese bento plates so we had to go back into a store in Northridge to pick up extra bento. 

Volunteers worked hard to clear out all the weeds and in the time allotted they did an excellent job. We did post on the Nextdoor App and it turns out that many lcoal people saw the posting and were interested in the story behind our cemetery.

— Janice Tanaka ’77

Plant Bamboo for Pandas – San Francisco, CA

• Benefiting: San Francisco Zoo
• Hosted by: USC Alumni in San Francisco & USC APAA Bay Area

One completed task was the planting of 60 potted bamboos into a new browse garden. This browse garden will begin a series bamboo plantings that can tell a conservation story of what we are doing for the Pandas. Another task was infilling composted soils into a newly renovated area along our railroad tracks. This area will be a potential location of future planted bamboo gardens in the park. The teams were also able to assist in cleaning and restoring our Peccary exhibit in which volunteers removed branches and debris that filled a 30 yard green waste dumpster. It is my estimation that with 97 volunteers who worked 2 hours each allowed the zoo to capture 194 total hours of volunteer work. This stat is the equivalent of having 4 full time employees for an entire week.

The impact the volunteers will have is to allow my Horticulture staff to focus on grounds and garden maintenance, exhibit restoration and future zoo projects.

— San Francisco Zoo

Liberty Street Community Garden Project – Kingston, NY

• Benefiting: Liberty Street Community Garden
• Hosted by: Maisha Tyler ’20

The Day of SCervice helped to bring attention to the Community Garden that AME Zion Church of Kingston would like to create a space for children within an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. Currently, Midtown has no library  (closed for renovation for a year),  or much greenspace. As a Trustee, I organized a Garden Clean-Up corresponding to the Day of SCervice. Just the act of showing the presence of USC in the neighborhood garnered interest. 

The AME Zion Liberty Street Community Garden is the only greenspace for the Midtown neighborhood. The library is closed for rehabilitation and the neighborhood’s many children and families have no place to play or congregate. As a mission, the historic church which serves this community is trying to create a space for rejuvenation and respite. They desperately volunteers and I was proud to volunteer via the Day of SCervice. The garden now looks much better and we’re planning a re-design (benches and maybe an outdoor book nook) for Spring!

At the end of the day, we had cleaned up the garden–and gained interest in volunteering for the longer term!

— Maisha Tyler ’20

River Cleanup – Modesto, CA

• Benefiting: Norcal Veterans Peer Support Network
• Hosted by: Joel Montes ’16

This event was hosted by a newly formed organization that myself and other military Veterans recently created as a non-profit to promote the wellbeing of Veterans and their families. We were drawn to the USC Day of Service because we wanted to participate in an event that would represent the shared values of service to our community. In this regard, the Central Valley has a myriad of rivers, streams, and creeks. The local population enjoys the parks, rivers, and streams and recreational activities throughout the year. We wanted to “think globally, act locally” by this beautification project by doing our part in keeping our parks and rivers clean. It the first of hopefully many opportunities we can do to contribute in bettering our community and as military Veterans continue to serve others. Our organization said they really enjoyed this activity and felt like they did make a small difference in cleaning up one of parks in North Central Valley. Our organization, the Norcal Veterans Peer Support Network, thanks USCAA for giving us the motivation and means to participate in Day of Service. My name is Joel Montes, MSW ’16, and military Veteran thank USC for giving me a chance to study and learn about volunteer service while a social work student. This is one way of my saying, thank you USC. Fight On!

— Joel Montes ’16

Assemble Art Materials for Classroom Lessons – Redwood City, CA

• Benefiting: Art in Action
• Hosted by: Asmiti Sura ’16, Manasi Barath

To mark our 10th year of participating in the USC Alumni Day of SCervice, Manasi and I hosted a volunteering project at Art in Action. Art in Action brings comprehensive and engaging art education programs to underserved schools. They provide an art curriculum along with providing the art supplies and training for educators to bring the curriculum to life. Together, we prepared art materials to be distributed for classroom lessons and served 660 students through the cork and wire sub-assembly. Our group also made a significant impact by prepping for their annual fundraiser, Object Art, by wrapping153 bottles of wine. While it always feels good to give back to the local community, it is extra special to support a worthwhile cause while volunteering with fellow alumni! Fight On!

— Asmiti Sura’16

Assemble Fresh Produce and Food Boxes – Bell, CA

• Benefiting: Labor Community Services
• Hosted by: Ana Priscila Garcia ’22

I hosted this project with Labor Community Services because they play a critical role in supporting our community, including the union members and families we serve at Building Skills Partnership. Despite being a small team of just four people, they provide food boxes to thousands of families each month, making their need for volunteers essential.

Thanks to our dedicated team of 12 volunteers, we were able to assemble 19 pallets, totaling 1,140 boxes of food. This effort directly impacted over 1,000 families in need. Labor Community Services expressed immense gratitude for our help, and we were all deeply moved knowing our work made such a tangible difference in our community. It was a powerful reminder of how collective action can create real, lasting change.

— Ana Priscila Garcia ’22

Volunteer at Sacramento Children’s Home – Sacramento, CA

• Benefiting: Sacramento Children’s Home
• Hosted by: USC State Capital Center in Sacramento

For over ten years, Sacramento Trojans have been coming together to support the Sacramento Children’s Home and fellow Trojan/Executive Director David Baker. The Children’s Home is a local nonprofit dedicated to helping families and children through its crisis nursery program, family resource centers, mental health programs, and residential treatment programs. Volunteers worked on gardening and landscaping projects and had a great time getting to know each other. We got a lot done in a short amount of time, which really helps their facilities crew maintain the campus for families and foster youth.

Sort, Pack and Box Food for People in Need – Albuquerque, NM

• Benefiting: Roadrunner Food Bank
• Hosted by: USC Alumni in New Mexico

We have been hosting projects for years and will continue to do so to help our community.  New Mexico  is a very poor state and many families suffer from food insecurities.  We worked with Roadrunner Food Bank (RRFB) to package pinto beans,  a staple in NM.  We were able to package, weigh and label 2 pound packages of beans, a total of 372 pounds.  These packages are now ready for distribution.  RRFB is concerned that funding may be cut and distribution of food will become limited to very few families.  We need to continue to help RRFB with volunteering hours and money. 

— Diane

Prepare Meal Kits for Youth – Aloha, OR

• Benefiting: Good SamariKidz
• Hosted by: Amanda Choi ’08

Thank you so much for helping package 5 days worth of food for 120 unhoused Beaverton students in such a short time. The packages were delivered to a nearby church after the event for distribution. Due to our budget, I was limited in what items I could buy, but hopefully this will help the students.

I hope to plant small seeds for the kids that came to help out. We read the book Maddie’s Fridge and it’s one of my favorites in teaching empathy to young children about hunger, charity, friendship, trust and helping others. Good Samarikidz is my passion project and hopefully lets little ones know they can make an impact even at a young age.

— Amanda Choi

Sort and Pack Rescued Product – Atlanta, GA

• Benefiting: Atlanta Food Bank
• Hosted by: Jim Summers ’74

Regardless of USC Trojan victories over UCLA, Stanford and Notre Dame, I am most proud to be a USC alum every year on a Saturday in March–the annual USC Alumni Day of SCervice. Spanning the globe, more than 2,000 members of the Trojan Family gathered to volunteer at deserving charities and give back to their respective local communities. In Atlanta, twenty-five members of the USC ATL Trojan Family gathered at the Atlanta Community Food Bank Hunger Action Center to fight food insecurity in our community. Our volunteers inspected, sorted and packed 8,460 pounds of food for distribution across the ACFB service area, translating to 7,050 meals for food-insecure families in north Georgia. We truly did meaningful and transformative work. Proud to be a USC ATL Trojan!

University of Southern California Trojan Family – Lifelong and Worldwide!

✌️FIGHT ON, Y’all!✌️

— Jim Summers

CSU/Expo Mini Urban Farm Beautification – Los Angeles, CA

• Benefiting: Community Services Unlimited Inc
• Hosted by: Community Services Unlimited Inc.

CSU has been a wonderful Good Neighbors partner and a good neighbor to our community residents for as long as I can remember. The garden is an amazing space of organic joy. The beds are filled with healthy greens and an abundance of hope and loam. The garden gives our neighbors an opportunity to learn and connect with the earth. The produce from the garden is taken to the Village Marketplace to provide truly fresh, healthy vegetables at affordable prices to our neighbors.

The garden truly takes a village to grow. That “many hands” saying? Yes, and yes. Though the rain made things a little challenging, it was still fun for every one, but made us work a little harder and faster to get out of the rain! We were able to work two beds and get them planted with cabbages and bok choy and radishes, spread compost around the banana trees, create starter pots for the next round of plantings, and whatever else that Cris pointed us at. Cris did a great job of keeping everyone occupied and feeling useful. Several individuals were interested in volunteering on a more regular basis, and most people wore USC gear!

— Dawn Kita

Professional Attire and Career Shop – Houston, TX

• Benefiting: Institute for Careers and Leadership Development
• Hosted by: Ashley Davis ’02

We hosted a project because we enjoy giving back and knew the ideal opportunity to do so. We’ve always had a passion for teens and college students as they prep for the job-ready market and this was perfect… to spring-clean closets as a pay-it-forward initiative. Our project benefits Prairie View A & M’s Career Closet to assist students in feeling and looking their best as they prepare for job interviews. We were also able to collect evening attire and summer attire for those students who attend galas, and oftentimes, summer internships. It is so valuable for the community to understand that not every student is equipped to know how to properly present themselves and how to actually dress for success. Our volunteers launched friendships and one in particular really enjoyed learning more about USC and Houston alums.

— Ashley Davis

Battleship USS Iowa Beautification – Los Angeles, CA

• Benefiting: USS Iowa
• Hosted by: USC Alumni Veterans Network & Marshall Alumni Association, LA Region

I hosted the project because I’m a veteran and the USS Iowa has much significance to the veteran community. The ship hosts numerous veteran events during the year and is the center of the annual U.S. Navy Fleet Week.

The USS Iowa is maintained by an almost entirely volunteer crew. So the project benefits everyone who visits the historic battleship.

With this project we were able to clean parts of the ship that the full- time volunteers could not get to. We left the ship looking a lot cleaner than when we started.

— Bertin Guillory

Help Grow Healthy Food and Beautiful Flowers – Santa Cruz, CA

• Benefiting: Common Roots Farm
• Hosted by: USC Alumni in the Bay Area

I led a group at Common Roots Farm in Santa Cruz. The farm was built to be a place where people of all abilities can work and have a sense of purpose. In addition, they are using organic and restorative farming practices. Doing even a small part to make this possible is worth a few hours of weeding. 🙂

— Lesley Ruzon

Walk and Distribute Necessities – Hong Kong, HK

• Benefiting: ImpactHK
• Hosted by: USC Alumni Club of Hong Kong

USC alumni and Impact HK worked as a team to serve homeless people in Hong Kong. We are here to make our city a better place where everyone cares for their neighbor!✌️

— Garrick Tang

Walking Path Litter Removal – Newport, OR

• Benefiting: City of Newport
• Hosted by: Helen Beaman ’13

I moved to a rural coastal community 4 years ago, and am now faraway from the Day of SCervice projects I used to participate in, but I didn’t want to miss out on this meaningful tradition. My community sees a lot of tourism–for the most part, year-round–so you add in coastal winds and you have a recipe for a lot of litter and debris in high-utilization areas. I enjoy jogging and walking my dogs along a particular pathway in South Newport and have often thought about picking up litter in the area. This project gave me an opportunity to represent USC as an ambassador for community service as well as for my profession (social work) that upholds volunteerism as a core value. I enjoyed a lovely morning in the sunshine, tidying up a beautiful recreational path in my community! FIGHT ON!

— Helen Beaman

Prepare Food for Distribution to Low-Income Seniors – Garden Grove, CA

• Benefiting: OC Food Bank
  Community Action Partnership of Orange County (CAP OC)
• Hosted by: USC Gould Alumni Association of Orange County
  USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

I wanted to do more community service with my 12-year-old daughter. We did this same project last year and she really enjoyed it, which is what prompted me to help host the project this year. Community Action Partnership of Orange County had a very efficient system set up for volunteers and we packed 1,400 boxes of food for hungry seniors.

It was an early start and became a cold, rainy day, but our Trojan Family showed up and showed out! It was great to see volunteers of all ages come together to give back. Fight On!

— Fred Thiagarajah

Knit Hats for Premature Babies in Local Hospital NICUs – UPC, CA

• Benefiting: Local hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs)
• Hosted by: USC Viterbi Emerging Leaders Board

We collaborated on this service project alongside USC Madhatter Knits, a local chapter of the main organization that specializes in knitting hats for premature babies in nearby hospital NICUs. While seemingly small, this act carries a profound impact. Maintaining a stable body temperature is crucial for the growth and well-being of premature babies. The hats crafted by Madhatter Knits play a vital role in helping these infants regulate their body temperature and stay warm. During the Day of SCervice, we collectively created over 20 hats that will be donated to local hospitals, ultimately aiding premature babies in their progress. It’s remarkable how something seemingly small can make a significant difference in the lives of these little ones.

— Angela Wilson

Guanyin Mountain Clean-Up – Taiwan

• Benefiting: North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area Headquarters
• Hosted by: USC Alumni Club of Taiwan

On Saturday, March 23, it was a great sunny day. We were doing volunteer work at Guanyin Mountain in Taipei to clean the mountain. There were 41 volunteers willing to come from many places, which really touched me. One alum took the bus to Taipei the day before. Another took the high-speed train at 5:30 that morning. Still another brought their whole family, a total of six people, including his three-year-old twins. One brought his mother who is eighty years old, but at least in super good shape. The special thing is that four non-Taiwanese alumni also signed up. One of them was a 2023 graduate and salutatorian, Carina, who came to Taiwan as a Fulbright student to teach English for one year. It took a long time for her and her friends from Hualien to get to the site.

USC is definitely a common topic for everyone. We all got to know each other in a short time, and with the same goal in mind, we rolled up our sleeves to clean up the mountain.

We were sweaty, but happy, and our work brought us spiritual satisfaction, since we all have respect for the beauty of nature.

Thank you to every volunteer who got up early and came from so many places to join us. Society is better because of you. Thanks to the Guanyin Mountain Visitor Center for giving us the opportunity to return nature to its original appearance. Thank you USC for allowing us to unite the power of alumni in this way.

Fight On!

— Yu-Chi Lee (Vicky)

Sakura Gardens Beautification – Los Angeles, CA

• Benefiting: Sakura Gardens Senior Living Facility
• Hosted by: USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association

When walking through the community gardens at Sakura Gardens, a senior care home in Boyle Heights, one can tell that at one point it was incredibly beautiful. A bed of roses, a pair of apple trees, even a namesake sakura cherry tree hidden way towards the back. However, in recent years, the community garden has seen a lack of care –grass and weeds have now overgrown the more delicate plants and now make it incredibly difficult to provide basic care for even the larger trees. However, it isn’t for lack of effort. Up until last year, two seniors –one in her 80s and the second in her 90s–had been the sole caretakers of the entire garden. A few months ago, one of them passed away. This is where USC Trojans stepped in–helping the remaining caretaker of the community garden clear the dense grass and remove invasive weeds. Slowly, as we cleared the grass and weeds away, we all started re-discovering the beauty of the community garden that had been hidden away for so many years.

— Martin Nguyen

Help Pregnant Women in Need – Orange, CA

• Benefiting: Casa Teresa
• Hosted by: USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association

Casa Teresa offers housing and educational programs to pregnant homeless women, equipping them with the necessary skills to live independently.

Every month they receive new clothes donated by manufacturers. We sorted and prepared them to be sold at their thrift shop that provides funding for Casa Teresa which houses as many as 35 mothers and children. Some of the volunteers even bought clothes–it was a perfect day.

— Stephen Takeda ’80

Collect Sports Gear and Equipment for Underprivileged Youth – Granada Hills, CA

• Benefiting: A2Z Athletics
• Hosted by: Lusine Lalabekyan ’98

This project was inspired by our son and his love for sports. We hosted this project with him. Sports is a big part of his life and this project was a means for us to give back to our community and benefit other kids and teens who love sports but may not be able to play because of the financial burden associated with the cost of gear and equipment. This was a drop-off event, but some of the volunteers collected and sorted the donations which will be distributed to various organizations benefiting underprivileged youth.

— Lusine Lalabekyan

Provide Basic Necessities to Migrants Living in Encampments – CDMX, Mexico

• Benefiting: Fundación Humano y Libre AC
• Hosted by: USC Mexico Office

SCervice is my favorite alumni engagement event of the year, and I love participating. It gets me to do some community service and learn about different parts of the city and to interact with people from different backgrounds. This year we collected donations for breakfast items, hygiene items, and clothes and shoes, and took them to migrants living in street encampments. We got to meet and speak with migrants from Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti, many of whom are traveling with children, and who were all very appreciative of a little conversation and some help with basic necessities. We learned about some of the hardships the migrants are living with and we were able to bring some cheer to one of the city’s most vulnerable and overlooked populations.

— Angela McCracken

Ocean Front Street Clean-Up – Redondo Beach, CA

• Benefiting: Keep the Esplanade Beautiful
• Hosted by: Tiffany Aguirre ’91

I hosted this project because I am a lifelong community member, and the Esplanade is a short, unique ocean-front walk, and this organization’s mission is to maintain and enhance it.

— Tiffany Aguirre

Food Box Assembly and Distribution – Los Angeles, CA

• Benefiting: AfricActive
• Hosted by: USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association

I hosted a project this year after becoming involved in AfricActive at a previous Day of SCervice. Through its weekly food distribution, AfricActive addresses the pressing need for food security among vulnerable populations, exacerbated by economic challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting the event for USC alumni is a great way to foster a sense of solidarity and support within our community.

By organizing the food distribution event, we not only address immediate hunger but also contribute to the long-term resilience of our community.

Volunteers set up the food distribution site, unloaded all of the donated food and supplies, and packed and distributed family boxes to everybody who came to the site.

— Stephanie Chow

Volunteer to Support Alzheimer’s Research – San Diego, CA

• Benefiting: Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute & Sharp Mesa Vista
• Hosted by: Keck School of Medicine of USC

I hosted this project as a proud San Diego alum, who is lucky enough to work for our alma mater in my hometown for a cause that means so much to me personally. My paternal grandfather died of Alzheimer’s and my maternal grandmother currently suffers from dementia. The Keck School of Medicine of USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute put on an amazing event with over 250 attending, with over 90 people participating in AlzMatch, and including all our local Alzheimer’s partners. We had over 30 Day of SCervice volunteers make the day possible. We also screened the film Remembering Gene Wilder and welcomed Karen B. Wilder at the event.

This work has helped us in our efforts to provide the most up-to-date Alzheimer’s research information to our community. Currently there are over 100,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease in San Diego.

— Shelly Moore

Plant and Learn About Healthy Veggies, Pasadena, CA

• Benefiting: Families Forward Learning Center
• Hosted by: Cheryl Holcomb ’81

My USC alumni group–USC Trojan Affiliates–asked if I would chair a Day of SCervice project. I said yes because my friend and fellow TA member is the director of Families Forward preschool. It is an amazing program in Pasadena CA that also educates parents. As a retired teacher, it was a great opportunity to serve children and their families along with fellow alumni. What an amazing day with some of the kindest alumni ever!! Everyone gained through this fabulous event by planting and learning about veggies!

— Cheryl Holcomb

Pack Humanitarian Aid Items for the Homeless – UPC Campus

• Benefiting: Khalsa Peace Corps’ Share A Meal Program
• Hosted by: Ravinder Singh ’91

The Share A Meal project of Khalsa Peace Corps hosted a project this year to confirm our hunch that USC alumni and others would like to give back to their local community, and would spend a couple hours packing humanitarian aid packages that would later be distributed to neighbors in need in the local USC community. The USC/URC location, the no experience required, and the short weekend time slot yielded an enthusiastic response. The ages spanned from middle school to retirement age. The volunteers were so motivated that they packed 200 full humanitarian aid packages and 150 feminine hygiene packages in the first hour. We could tell that next year, we can more than double our output!

The Share A Meal project of Khalsa Peace Corps hosted a project this year to confirm our hunch that USC alumni and others would like to give back to their local community, and would spend a couple hours packing humanitarian aid packages that would later be distributed to neighbors in need in the local USC community. The USC/URC location, the no experience required, and the short weekend time slot yielded an enthusiastic response. The ages spanned from middle school to retirement age. The volunteers were so motivated that they packed 200 full humanitarian aid packages and 150 feminine hygiene packages in the first hour. We could tell that next year, we can more than double our output!

The items we were packing were in part corporate donations, and in part purchased through donated funds from individuals, businesses and grants such as the USC Good Neighbors Grant Program. Everyone was thankful to have been part of the project, and some were motivated to follow through on nightly person-to-person distribution with the USC Share A Meal student club.

It was a rewarding project to sponsor and we look forward to expanding our output next year.

— Ravinder Singh

Ocean Beach Clean-Up – San Francisco, CA

• Benefiting: TogetherSF
• Hosted by: USC Marshall Alumni Bay Area

Partnering with TogetherSF to help clean up Ocean Beach, a popular sand beach adjacent to Golden Gate Park, was a wonderful opportunity to bring Trojans in the Bay Area together to beautify a gathering place we have all enjoyed. In a time when there are a lot of negative opinions about San Francisco, it was a joy to show up for our community and remove litter that could have been dangerous to wildlife and people. The manager of the Ocean Beach Cafe is a passionate resident, and he spoke on behalf of the community with words of appreciation for helping to keep their neighborhood clean. In 2 hours, our group filled dozens of trash bags with waste from across Ocean Beach, including plastic wrappers, cigarette butts, broken glass, and oddities like a rusted old power tool and a wine corkscrew! We are proud to say the area is clean, safe and beautiful now for all the people enjoying their time at the beach because of the work we did.

— Seth Novosel

Help People with Food Insecurities – Albuquerque, NM

• Benefiting: Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico
• Hosted by: USC Alumni in New Mexico

I’ve hosted this project for several years. New Mexico has a small number of alumni who gather for game watches and the SCervice project. It has grown slightly in the past few years, with hope of a better football team.

The project usually helps the food banks around town. People in NM are poor and need the food bank to help feed families.

Volunteers get to know each and feel good helping others.

— Diane DeReyes

Sort and Organize Donated Clothes – Irvine, CA

• Benefiting: Working Wardrobes
• Hosted by: USC Marshall Alumni Association of Orange County

USC Alumni Day of SCervice is such a wonderful tradition and one of my very favorite annual USC events! While it always feels good to give back to the local community, it is extra special to support a worthwhile cause while volunteering with my fellow alumni!

For the past 8 years, I have participated in the USC Marshall Alumni of Orange County’s SCervice project in partnership with the Working Wardrobes Donation Center located in Irvine. I have enjoyed serving as the Day of SCervice Event Co-Lead for the past two years.

I continue to be involved with Alumni Day of SCervice and truly enjoy hosting this event because of the sense of community and the opportunity for alumni engagement that this event naturally provides as we all work together to better our community. I love seeing Trojans of all ages working side by side while getting to know each other in such a casual, organic way.

USC Alumni Day of Service is often an alum’s first time getting re-engaged with their alma mater since graduation. As a result, this event provides a wonderful opportunity for us to share more about USC Marshall Alumni of Orange County and to encourage them to attend one of our upcoming alumni engagement events and to bring their Trojan friends, as our events are open to all alumni. We also share the many ways for our project’s volunteers to stay engaged and involved with the Marshall School of Business, the university, and the Trojan Family.

Working Wardrobes is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to help people overcome barriers to gainful employment. Through their Rebuilding Careers program, clients gain access to a wide range of career readiness services at no cost to their clients, all completely individualized and delivered with the utmost dignity and respect. No matter what stands between a client and gainful employment, their Rebuilding Careers program will help their clients achieve The Power of a Paycheck™.

Working Wardrobes was so appreciative that our entire group showed up on time, excited to volunteer, and ready to get to work! We handled a variety of responsibilities from the intake of clothing donations being dropped off at the front to sorting, hanging, steaming and organizing clothes by type to then be sent off to either the Working Wardrobes Career Center or to one of their three stores located in Laguna Niguel, Costa Mesa and Garden Grove. Sales from their three stores directly support the clients of Working Wardrobes.

Participating in USC Alumni Day of SCervice always makes me feel extra proud to be a Trojan and serves as a reminder that the power and strength of the Trojan Family is lifelong and worldwide as more than 2,000 Trojan alumni worldwide were volunteering and doing amazing things to better their communities on the same day!

— Victoria Graveline Waiss

Play at Boys and Girls Club – San Pedro, CA

• Benefiting: Boys and Girls Club of the Los Angeles Harbor
• Hosted by: Trojan League of South Bay

Our local Boys and Girls Club are deserving kids in the San Pedro/Wilmington area who benefited from a “Saturday of fun.” We hosted 68 kids and had 30 volunteers PLUS 5 USC Trojan athletes (3 basketball and 2 track and field) come to play. We did several arts and crafts projects, had a healthy Smoothie station (manned by USC students) and basketball play. Due to the rain, we were not able to utilize the John Colich field for outdoor games. Hopefully next year!

It was wonderful for the kids to see student athletes giving back and having fun playing!

— Franci Agajanian