Pepperdine Volunteers Serve Communities on Step Forward Day
Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends.
On September 9 Pepperdine University students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends joined together for the 29th consecutive year to participate in Step Forward Day, the University’s annual day of service. Nearly 1,400 Pepperdine volunteers, including over 300 alumni, joined partner organizations across the country to serve their local communities.
Local organizations included the Boys and Girls Club of Malibu, Koreatown Youth and Community Center, Shane’s Inspiration in Burbank, and Hope Gardens Family Center in Sylmar. Members of the Los Angeles Waves alumni chapter pitched in locally by partnering with the Surfrider Foundation to clean Santa Monica State Beach.
Alumni around the country also served their respective communities through their alumni chapters. In the nation’s capital, the DC Waves partnered with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington to clean emergency shelters operated by the Catholic Charities social services agency, and the Portland Waves and Bay Area Waves partnered with local food banks to sort, label, and package food to distribute to those in need.
“By engaging with our surrounding communities and fostering those relationships, we inherently strengthen the bonds within our own Pepperdine community as well,” said Libby Bucci, Seaver College senior and special events director at the Pepperdine Volunteer Center. “Our goal is to learn more about these organizations and people, engage with them and accommodate their needs, and encourage participants to take interest in social justice throughout our own community and beyond.”