Bruins spread light through L.A. during UCLA Volunteer Day

From preparing meals at food banks to cleaning up riverbanks, 1,300 UCLA volunteers fanned out across Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept. 27, rolling up their sleeves to make a difference and remind Bruins and the city why service is at the heart of the university’s mission.

An annual rite of passage, UCLA Volunteer Day starts off the new school year by inviting new and returning Bruins, along with faculty, staff and alumni, to forge connections with local partners and L.A.’s diverse communities while tackling real-world projects in their own backyard.

“Take the opportunity to connect with the Los Angeles community, with your fellow Bruins and, as I said, with total strangers,” Chancellor Frenk said at the morning kickoff on campus. “So my challenge to you today is: Find a stranger, build a connection and be the light to the world.”

This year, the 17th iteration of Volunteer Day, volunteers bedecked in “Bruins Give Back” T-shirts spread that light across 45 locations, from senior centers and elementary schools to veterans’ facilities, homeless shelters and community gardens. Chancellor Frenk and UCLA students joined Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other local and state officials at Hope the Mission in the San Fernando Valley, making 25,000 meals for unhoused people and those in interim shelters as part of a collaborative effort between UCLA’s Volunteer Center and the city’s Shine LA volunteer initiative.

UCLA Student Affairs

David Esquivel / UCLA

UCLA Student Affairs

David Esquivel / UCLA

Barbra Ramos / UCLA

At Los Angeles National Cemetery, adjacent to the Westwood campus, UCLA volunteers — including student veterans with the UCLA Veteran Resource Center — scrubbed and rinsed the grave markers of military veterans and were encouraged to reflect on the meaning of service and sacrifice. On campus, students cleared brush and hauled wheelbarrows and compost to spruce up the jane b semel HCI Community Garden. The garden, part of UCLA’s Healthy Campus Initiative, provides a space for the UCLA community to grow healthy food, some of which is donated to local communities, and to foster education about urban gardening practices.

Since the launch of the UCLA Volunteer Center in 2009, the large-scale event has mobilized nearly 60,000 volunteers, who have contributed some 367,000 hours of service to Southern California and beyond, at an estimated combined value of $9.5 million. But the true value of Volunteer Day runs much deeper, embodying — through members of the Bruin community — UCLA’s public mission to educate, connect and uplift.