A group of staff from UCLA's New Student and Transition Program delivered more than 500 toys and boxes of decorated stars to Mattel Children's Hospital Thursday. During first-year student orientation sessions this summer, new Bruins strung stars and collected toys as part of the community service component of the program and a demonstration of True Bruin Values.
Today, members of UCLA’s incoming class of 2017 donated more than 500 toys to the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA. Items were collected during first-year student orientation sessions held this summer and were delivered to the hospital by staff from the New Student and Transition Programs. They also brought boxes of carefully strung stars that were decorated by freshman students during orientation. Those stars will be used to decorate some of the hospital’s child life play areas and deck.
"One of our True Bruin Values is service, and we want to echo that message right out of the gate by doing something to show that their service is important to UCLA and the community at large," said Roxanne Neal, director of New Student and Transition Programs.
This is the fourth year that a community service component has been included in orientation programming, said Neal, noting that Operation Gratitude and the Los Angeles Unified School District have been past beneficiaries. In those instances, new students wrote letters of support to American service men and women, and donated school supplies to underprivileged elementary and high school students.
"This year, we decided to do something within the UCLA community," said recent UCLA graduate Van Pham, who is one of four new-student coordinators who helped bring this year’s project to life. "From the new student perspective, it allows them to participate together as an orientation group."
Hilary Gan, special events coordinator and a hematology/oncology child life specialist at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, was on hand to accept the donation from Neal and members of her staff.
“Toys like these are integral to the function of our program on a daily basis,” said Gan, adding that once a child receives a toy from the hospital, it is theirs to keep. “It’s important for us to keep them engaged and growing and developing as they should be while at the hospital, so this kind of donation is really important. It aids us in our work, and it’s fun and exciting for the children. They love new things and it will go to good use. It’s a great gift.”
