Making huge strides in its first go, Del Mar College’s new club the Social Work Student Association has already made its mark in the community in its first year.
Most recently, the club donated a $250 check to a group that works with homeless veterans to provide them with work clothes and shoes to help them get ready for a job. The club also donated $200 worth of toys for Toys for Tots over the holiday break, helped serve meals to children at the Ronald McDonald House, and also read to the elderly at the Gulfway Apartments.
In the fall, the club partnered with Dr. Eddie Canales and the South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias on a one-day trip to help set up water towers for migrants passing through and keep them from dying of dehydration.
“We helped them build water towers and set them up along his route as well as refill water towers that needed to be refilled,” SWSA member Maricela Huerta said.
They were able to give a $100 check to Canales as well has a $450 worth of funds raised by the Learning Service Project through Dr. Olivia Lopez’s social work class who is also an advisor for the SWSA club combining to a total of $550.
The combined funds are to help aid not only with the building of water towers for migrants, but to also help aid in recovering the bodies of dead migrants who passed away passing through and linking them to their loved ones. Working with Canales and the Human Rights Center left an impact on Huerta, wanting to help a family in need.
“The money we were able to provide them with is to help maybe help a family member find their loved one and that’s why it was important to us,” she said.
With the strong involvement in the community in its first year, Lopez states how it prepares those involved in the club in helping them find work in the future once they graduate.
“It’s really important not only for Del Mar, but for the club to have that community interaction,” she said. Lopez also added that partnering with her executive officers was a huge honor due to them having a “good sense of getting things done” and making the first time memorable to her.
