At the end of the event at the Houston Food Bank, volunteers learned that they helped serve more than 70,000 meals.
Bauer College Alumni Association | The Daily Cougar
In remembrance of the 9/11 Day of Service, the UH Bauer College Alumni Association Community Service Committee rounded up more than 500 volunteers to help out at the Houston Food Bank on Saturday.
“In 2009, the date 9/11 was officially declared a national day of service and remembrance. It seems only appropriate that each year we come together to show our UH Cougar pride but also to honor the 9/11 Day of Service by giving back to our community,” said BCAA Community Service Committee Co-Chair Richard Orellana, who was in charge of the event.
Some of the volunteers said assisting at the Houston Food Bank on Saturday did as much for them personally as it did for the community.
“Many people are not afforded even half the opportunities that we, as UH students, are,” said accounting senior and HFB volunteer Courtney Caldwell. “Volunteerism makes you appreciate both the tangible and intangible aspects of your life.”
This year was the BCAA’s second year of coordinating the effort. The number of volunteers has more than doubled since last year.
“The UH BCAA Community Service Committee’s role was in coordinating and promoting this event so that we had even more volunteers from the UH community and friends of UH. In 2012, we had 168 volunteers,”Orellana said.
Social networking had a lot to do with the event’s large turnout.
“I sent out a general invitation via social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram,” Caldwell said. “I also sent text messages to about 10 people who had no affiliation with University of Houston, but they wanted to help out.”
Some of the UH organizations that volunteered at the event include the National Association of Black Accountants, the American Marketing Association, Beta Alpha Psi, the Finance Association, the Hispanic Business Student Association and the Bauer MBA Society.
“My favorite part of the event was at the end, when we found out how our volunteer work impacted lives,” Caldwell said. “As a group, we packed enough food for nearly 70,000 meals.”
