University Times

In the belief that Pitt prospers when its neighbors prosper, the efforts of staff and faculty volunteers during this year's United Way Day of Caring on Sept. 10 will focus on areas adjacent to the University.

Volunteers will work in central Oakland, West Oakland, North Oakland and the Hill District to renovate buildings, deliver meals to shut-ins, conduct safety inspections and visit hospitalized veterans.

"That's a real change in Day of Caring," said Day of Caring coordinator Steve Zupcic. "In previous years we bused people all over the county, as far away as McKeesport and Sewickley." According to Zupcic, the University's Day of Caring activities will continue to focus on neighborhoods near campus for the foreseeable future. "If University employees would walk just two or three blocks away from their offices, they'd see real social needs," Zupcic said. "We simply can't remain a first-rate educational institution and a first-rate employer in a deteriorating environment." Among the special projects to be tackled by Pitt volunteers this year is the restoration of row house facades on Frazier Street. The seven houses involved are occupied by senior citizens and single parents, according to Zupcic. The work will be done by a crew from the Office of Facilities Management.

"This is an area where within a couple of blocks there have been some major improvements made already," Zupcic said. "So the effort of Facilities Management won't just be sitting there by itself. It will be adjacent to other improvements, some of which the Pitt Volunteer Pool helped to make." The restoration of the row houses also should help Oakland Planning and Development Corporation in its marketing of middle income townhouses in the area. "The better the whole area looks, the easier it will be to market them," Zupcic noted.

A project that should improve the safety of Oakland is the installation of smoke detectors in the homes of senior citizens. Pitt volunteers will install the detectors and do a safety analysis of each home they visit.

"The safety factor is rather interesting, because if residents feel safe in the area, it has a kind of a ripple effect and the University environment becomes safer," Zupcic said.

Other Day of Caring projects include:

* Hill House mailing and meals delivery: Ten volunteers are needed to work in two groups preparing a bulk mailing for community groups and assisting Meals-on-Wheels drivers with deliveries to shut-ins in the Hill District.

* Breachmenders house renovation: Twenty volunteers will do light demolition work on a West Oakland house slated for renovation.

* Catholic Charities Family Day Care: Five volunteers will clean, sort and pack toys for this family day care project in the Rosalia Center on Clyde Street in North Oakland.

* Pittsburgh Aids Task Force Community Outreach Program: At least 30 volunteers are needed to assist task force staff in distributing AIDS information in the Hill District and on the North Side.

* Veterans Administration patient assistance: A dozen volunteers are needed to assist with patient services, visit long-term patients, escort patients and remind outpatients of appointments. All work will be done at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Oakland.

All volunteers will receive release time for the day (with the approval of their supervisors), transportation to and from work sites, lunch, a Day of Caring T-shirt, all necessary tools and other equipment, and an invitation to an end-of-day party.

Preliminary response to the call for volunteers has been greater than expected, according to Zupcic. Some projects already have their full quota of workers. The Volunteer Pool is working with the United Way to develop another project for Pitt volunteers. For information, call Zupcic at 648-1489; fax, 648-1492 or e-mail at stz@vms.cis.pitt.edu.

–Mike Sajna