Reaching Out

As part of Pomona Outreach to the World (Pow!) on April 13, more than 130 alumni took up hammer or paintbrush to work on community service projects in neighborhoods around the world. Alumni in eight regional communities, including London, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., contributed time and energy to a variety of projects. On the same day students, faculty, and administrators participated in projects in and around Claremont.

“We never imagined 2002 would be this successful,” said Andrew Sheppard ’99, who co-chairs the Alumni Association’s Student-Alumni Relations Committee with Brian Leslie ’99. “When the Alumni Board gave us a green light, our original goal was to test the project for alumni in a few select regions. Little did we know that requests from the regions would enable us to open it to everyone.”

This year, alumni in Washington, D.C., worked to restore the facility for a neighborhood after-school program, while New York alumni served food at a rescue mission. In the Southland, alumni worked with homeless youth, sorted donations at the L.A. Food Bank, and worked to beautify a transitional home for women and children. In San Francisco, Boston, and Sacramento, volunteers planted trees and worked on landscaping projects. And in London and Seattle, alumni worked on Habitat for Humanity projects.

Since its creation as a student program in 1997, Pomona Outreach to the World, an annual event that matches willing volunteers to local nonprofit projects, has reached communities around the globe. The Alumni Association joined the program in 2001.

For information about next year’s Pomona Outreach to the World program, contact the Alumni Office at (909) 621-8110, or by e-mail at alumni@pomona.edu.