Not too far from campus, Dinesh Ayyappan steps off a bus into the morning air. The junior mechanical engineering major stands with about 50 other Carnegie Mellon students in front of a warehouse. Normally, on a weekend, Ayyappan and the others might be hanging out with friends, studying, or catching up on sleep. Today, though, they’re donating their time as part of 1000Plus, an annual community-service day organized by Carnegie Mellon.
The festivities started with an estimated 1,000 students, faculty, and alumni meeting in the University Center. They had signed up online for different volunteer sites around the city; after meeting on campus, they were shuttled across Pittsburgh to clean up neighborhoods, help in libraries, or volunteer at organizations such as Family House, Three Rivers Youth, or Pittsburgh Action Against Rape. Ayyappan finds himself at Storehouse for Teachers, a Pittsburgh non-profit that distributes school supplies to underprivileged students and classrooms.
Inside the four-story warehouse are pencils, binders, textbooks, desks, and other classroom accessories. Storehouse staff split the volunteers into two groups. One group will organize all of the learning materials, while the others will haul out old, unusable items to make room for new donations. Staffers aren’t sure everything will get done during the volunteer day’s allotted hours, so everyone gets to work immediately. Broken desks are lifted onto an orange pallet jack and Ayyappan and his group pull their cargo outside to a Dumpster. After unloading, they head back for more. Meanwhile, others organize glue, calculators, pens, rulers, and the rest of the school supplies.
Ayyappan also participated in 1000Plus last year, picking up trash and planting trees in a park near campus. This year, as he makes his trips back and forth with the pallet jack, he notices how well everything is going. Whether organizing or hauling, every volunteer—amid plenty of chatter and laughs—is working hard, even breaking a sweat.
When 4 pm comes around, it’s clear that concerns about not finishing were unfounded. Volunteers finish sweeping away the last remnants of debris, leaving the warehouse in immaculate condition—more space is available for new donations, and all of the school supplies are well organized, ready for students and their teachers. Outside, the buses return, and everyone climbs on board. All return to campus, to their routines, and for Ayyappan and the rest of the 1000Plus volunteers, with a sense of satisfaction for a job well done.
—Kevin Trobaugh
Photo courtesy © 2011, jennandjon
