The A²MEND Leadership Academy made quite an impact in their communities in January through their community service efforts. While the Academy continued their programs and even thrived throughout the pandemic, the only program that paused during this period was their community service program. To kick-off the program this year, the Academy’s student mentees planned two major community service efforts in Northern and Southern California.
To support Northern Californian communities with high homeless populations, the Academy’s student mentees from the College of the Sequoias, Consumnes River College, Evergreen Valley College, Merced College, and Solano Community College hosted “Coat Drives” on their campuses to collect donated coats. The mentees handed out the coats as well as sweaters and hoodies to the homeless in Downtown San Jose.
The Academy’s Southern California student mentees from Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Northridge, Pasadena City College, San Diego State, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and Whittier College met at Avalon Chapel in South L.A. to assemble hygiene kits. The free kits – which included beanies, gloves, socks, deodorant, soap, toothbrush/paste, sanitizer, shampoo and mouthwash – were handed out to homeless individuals in South Los Angeles.
To reward the student mentees for their community service work, the A²MEND Executive Board plans to treat them to tickets to San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Lakers games.