University of the Pacific students last year contributed more than 60,400 hours of community service, provided health care and legal assistance to more than 20,000 people in underserved communities, and raised more than $48,500 for charitable causes, according to the latest tallies from the university’s three campuses.
The efforts provided an estimated $10 million in uncompensated dental care to 14,000 underserved patients from throughout Northern California; helped thousands of elderly people save on prescription drug costs; and benefited regional food banks, national cancer research programs, scholarships and more.
“Through their work in the community, Pacific students are both applying what they learn and learning as they apply their education through service,” said Erin Rausch, director of the university’s Center for Community Involvement. “Through reaching out, students develop values of civic engagement and community responsibility.”
Undergraduate contributions
Pacific undergraduate students reported performing 13,093 hours of community service to the Center for Community Involvement during the 2013-2014 academic year. Beneficiaries included Habitat for Humanity, Animal Protection League, Boggs Tract Community Farm, Stockton Shelter for the Homeless, and more than a dozen other agencies and organizations.
The largely undergraduate Greek community, in a separate tally, reported 11,326 hours of service to the office of Housing and Greek Life. (Dual reporting to Greek Life and the Center for Community Involvement is not tracked, so the two totals cannot be added.)
Greek organizations at Pacific also reported raising more than $46,000 for philanthropic causes – or roughly $71 per student. (Many other students and student organizations also raise funds for charitable causes, but only the Greek organizations aggregate and report this information.)
Clocking the most volunteer service hours per member was Omega Delta Phi, with an average of 60.3 hours per student. The biggest fundraiser was Alpha Phi, which generated $12,799 overall.
About 17 percent of Pacific’s 3,877 undergraduates belonged to one of the campus’s 13 Greek organizations during the last academic year.
Each chapter at Pacific has an identified philanthropic focus. Causes and organizations include education, women’s issues, Shriners Hospital for Children – Northern California, and the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
“Community service and philanthropy are founding principles of Greek life at Pacific, and our fraternities and sororities demonstrate their commitment to giving back every year,” said Torry Brouliard-Bruce, executive director of housing, residential and Greek life. “Their cumulative contributions during the 2013-14 academic year continued their long tradition of service. Not only does our community benefit from their service, our students who get involved benefit through giving back.”
Health sciences and professional schools
Students at the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, and the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Stockton also gave generously of their time and skills.
Law students provided much-needed legal assistance to 529 clients throughout Northern California, logging more than 784 hours of pro bono service.
Dental students provided free screenings or oral health information for underserved groups at more than 50 free community health events throughout Northern California, including events in San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton, Union City, Vallejo and other communities. This included providing free screenings and follow-up care through Project Homeless Connect, a San Francisco-based nonprofit program serving the homeless. All told, the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry students volunteered more than 5,200 hours and the school provided $10 million in uncompensated services throughout the region and state. Student groups, including Pacific’s American Student Dental Association chapter, also hosted on-campus fundraisers during the 2013-2014 academic year that generated more than $2,500 for local nonprofits, including City Youth Now.
Students at the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences volunteered an estimated 30,000 hours, for efforts ranging from early literacy to children’s health:
- Speech-language pathology students collected and purchased more than 1,200 children’s books for Pacific’s annual Holiday Roar early literacy program for San Joaquin County children.
- Pharmacy students, working with faculty and preceptors, provided more than 100 free health care programs that offered medication therapy reviews, mental assessments, asthma care, and screenings for blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and osteoporosis. The clinics served more than 3,750 patients and provided immunizations to 992 patients.
- Pharmacy students also provided more than 8,000 screenings and medication therapy reviews to elderly patients through free school-sponsored Medicare Part D clinics, helping participants save up to $972 each on annual prescription drug costs.
- Physical therapy students have reached an average of about 1,875 at-risk young people in the Stockton region each year for the past four years through Healthy Children, a project in which they visit after-school programs to provide K-12 students with information and activities that encourage healthful physical activity and good nutrition. The students served about 325 more last year through the school’s Healthy Children program and the Pacific Family Health Fair.
According to estimates of the dollar value of volunteer time developed by Independent Sector, an association of charitable nonprofits and foundations, the combined volunteer hours tracked by Pacific students through the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, Center for Community Involvement, Housing and Greek Life, McGeorge School of Law, and Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – 60,403 hours — are worth nearly $1.6 million in California’s economy.
About University of the Pacific
Established in 1851 as the first university in California, University of the Pacific prepares students for professional and personal success through rigorous academics, small classes, and a supportive and engaging culture. Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful private university campuses in the West, the Stockton campus offers more than 80 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, music, business, education, engineering and computer science, and pharmacy and health sciences. The university’s distinctive Northern California footprint also includes campuses in San Francisco, home of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, and in Sacramento, home of the McGeorge School of Law. For more information, visit www.pacific.edu.
