Lending a hand

Monday, 5/19/97 Lending a hand UCLA Residential Life joins
localities in an L.A. Works effort to clean up the community

By Hala Ali Daily Bruin Contributor People from all races and
backgrounds united Saturday with the common goal of revitalizing
Los Angeles. Approximately 4,000 early-morning volunteers pulled
weeds, picked up trash and repainted buildings in South Central Los
Angeles. Among the volunteers were 33 UCLA students, faculty and
staff – all residents of the UCLA dorms. The group, calling
themselves Residential Life, dedicated their day to helping the
nearby community. L.A. Works Day, an annual community service
event, brings people from all over the Los Angeles area to clean up
and improve the condition of 15 different neighborhoods. Volunteers
devote their day to cleaning up low income housing, public schools,
community centers and day-care facilities. With the slogan
"Remanufacture your attitude," the event is aimed not only at
improving Los Angeles but also people’s attitudes toward the city.
For Joshua Muldavin, a geography professor and faculty in residence
at Sunset Village, L.A. Works Day was an opportunity to get more in
touch with some of the other kinds of realities that exist in the
city. "It’s too easy to forget about them when you’re at UCLA," he
said. Leaving the UCLA campus early Saturday morning, the
Residential Life team arrived at Manual Arts High School in South
Central Los Angeles. They were given assignments to remove weeds
from gardens and to level new sand at the playground of a community
housing neighborhood. They also had to paint and garden at a local
elementary school. The initial volunteers were not the only
participants in the event. Children from the neighborhood pitched
in their efforts as well. Two young girls passing by the playground
stopped to help level the sand. When called by their friend to
leave, one of the girls responded, "We’re helping out the
community!" A UCLA student asked a young boy to test out the sand
by jumping from a soaring swing. After a cushioned landing, the boy
showed his approval with a smile. "My responsibility is to clean up
around the community, or it’s like living in a messy house," said
Hirad Dadgostar, a political science student. "The university is an
important part of the community, and we can’t forget it." UCLA
participation in such activities was an important issue to many
volunteers. Fabian Wagmister, a film and television professor and
Residential Life team leader, voiced his concern over UCLA’s
relationship with the surrounding community. "I’ve always been
concerned with how we at UCLA are detached from our community," he
said "I’m very pleased with the participation of students, staff
and faculty which make the UCLA residential life community."
Wagmister sees his role as a faculty in residence as one that
strengthens the relationship between UCLA and the surrounding Los
Angeles community. "I hope that it will give us an opportunity to
start a dialogue about community involvement for social progress,"
he said. Muldavin stressed that although the activities were
helpful to the community, the kinds of existing problems require
larger social change. "It’s educating people that I find the most
hope in." In collaboration with the Housing Authority of the City
of Los Angeles, an organization called L.A. Works puts on L.A.
Works Day each year. The organization is also involved in weekly
projects designed to volunteer in a variety of neighborhoods. The
main goals of the organization are to increase volunteer
participation in the surrounding community, provide a labor force
and other resources to community service organizations, and educate
and encourage people to engage in the broader social issues
affecting the greater Los Angeles community. Among the many
organizations participating in the event were Taco Bell, Home
Depot, several accounting firms and the U.S. Air Force. Reasons for
participating varied from wanting to improve low-income
neighborhoods to raising people’s consciousness. "I don’t really
like the condition of downtown Los Angeles, and this is an
opportunity to improve what I don’t like," said Jade Wilson, a
musicology student who grew up in the area. Matt Garcia, a
political science student, hoped "to make an improvement in someone
else’s life. It’s nice to help someone out that you don’t even know
and to make some people happy." Volunteering faculty also hoped to
address larger issues, such as long-term efforts and increasing
awareness of the importance of activities such as L.A. Works Day.
Muldavin explained that the principal aspect of volunteerism is to
get people to "think about the way to start redistributing
resources in the society." L.A. Works Day also sparked hopes for
strengthening the Los Angeles community. "One of the things we’re
working on this year is how do we build an intellectual community
at Residential Life," Wagmister said. "One of the important ways to
do that is to do things together. Being a part of the larger
society is one thing we all have in common," he added. At the end
of the day, Wagmister considered the long-term effects of L.A.
Works Day. "It’s going to take us a while to think about what we’re
doing." However, Garcia was happy with the day’s efforts. "There
should be more of an attempt to get people involved in activities
like this," Garcia said. "It reflects well on the school that we
can get this amount of people out on a Saturday." photos by PATRICK
LAM/Daily Bruin Volunteers help paint a mural on the wall of the
102nd Street School. Armon Arasheben, a fifth-year biochemistry
student, and Christine Coons,of the Office of Residential Life
staff, paint stripes on the cafeteria walkway at the 102nd Street
Elementary School.