Celebrating 15 Years of Helping Others

By Eddie North-Hager and Katharine A. Diaz on October 1, 2009 7:27 AM

Fifteen years ago, USC President Steven B. Sample had a vision.

He wanted the staff and faculty of the university to join him in taking responsibility for improving the neighborhoods surrounding the University Park and Health Sciences campuses.

Employees have responded to this long-term challenge by raising more than $10 million in donations to the Good Neighbors Campaign, which has given more than 365 grants to community organizations partnering with USC.

This year’s theme - “Celebrating 15 Years of Helping Children Live Their Dreams”- could not be more appropriate, as some of the youngsters who were aided by the programs now are giving back themselves.

Jazmin Vidana, a 19-year-old USC sophomore and political science major who was tutored by USC students when she was in the second grade, is now a tutor for USC ReadersPlus, the program that put her on the pathway to college.

“You’re changing a kid’s life basically; you are changing USC students’ lives,” Vidana said.

Vidana remembers struggling at Weemes Elementary School until she got a personal tutor through ReadersPlus, a one-on-one, after-school program that has helped students for more than a decade with funding from the Good Neighbors Campaign.

“At home, I didn’t have any help because my parents only spoke Spanish so they couldn’t really help me with my homework,” Vidana said. “I just couldn’t wait until school ended so I could be in the after-school program. My grades improved and I started winning read-a-thons.”

The program taught Vidana about giving.

“I knew that when I got accepted into USC, I was going to apply to USC ReadersPlus,” Vidana said. “I didn’t even think twice about it.”

Last year the USC Good Neighbors Campaign raised a record $1.1 million from faculty, staff, students and friends. The goal for this month’s campaign is to raise $1.2 million and increase the participation rate among USC employees from 42 to 50 percent.

That will help create more happy endings for people like Juan Hernandez, a senior at West Adams Preparatory High School. He started playing soccer and basketball when he was 7 as part of Kids in Sports, which offers parent-led, after-school and weekend programs for more than 1,000 low-income boys and girls.

It turns out he had the ability to be a coach himself, which he does today with Kids in Sports.

“I feel like a dad with all those kids because some kids can come in and don’t know how to play, and I have to teach them from scratch,” Hernández said.

Sports helped Hernandez to stay interested in school, accept challenges and learn more about himself. As a coach, he wants to pass on life lessons about teamwork and helping others as well as how to play ball.

“It was my [soccer] coach who told me that he already knew I had the talent to play,” Hernandez said. “He said just keep on playing so when you grow older, you can achieve in school and stay in sports.”

TAGS: community programs

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