Thousands of Bruins offer services to L.A. area in fourth annual UCLA Volunteer Day

Surrounded by piles of dried pasta and canned fruits, Daniel Costanzo and his new Saxon suitemates stood in a warehouse near Downtown Los Angeles, separating and stacking empty boxes into a small tower.

A few feet away, his father, Vito Costanzo, watched as throngs of UCLA students organized the cornucopia of food.

Michael Costanzo, a fourth-year English student at UC Irvine and Daniel Costanzo’s brother, stood nearby, snapping photos of students as they packed boxes of food that would later be distributed to individuals at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

The father, sons and about a hundred other volunteers at the food bank joined thousands of UCLA students, alumni and faculty that flooded the Los Angeles area on Tuesday for the fourth annual UCLA Volunteer Day.

Participants typically bus to different locations throughout the Los Angeles area to participate in projects ranging from park cleanups to school visits as a way to give back to the community.

For the Costanzos, this year’s Volunteer Day was more than just a service event.

“It’s a family service experience as well as a Bruin experience,” said Rachel Corell, the director of the Volunteer Center.

UCLA alumnus Vito Costanzo has served as a Volunteer Day project leader for three years.

He first heard about the opportunity from a friend at the UCLA Volunteer Center.

This year, he asked Corell if he could share the experience with his son, Daniel, a first-year electrical engineering student.

Volunteering with one son was not enough, he said. He then asked his elder son, Michael, to join in as well.

“My dad invited me (and it was) an instant decision,” Michael Costanzo said, as he led a pack of new Bruins into the warehouse where they began packing food. “Irvine doesn’t have anything quite on this scale.”

Since its inauguration four years ago, Volunteer Day has increased its scope and scale, Corell said.

Initially, students went to eight volunteer sites. This year, there were 53 sites, Corell said.

For the first time, organizers also teamed up with student groups, such as Happy Feet Clinic, which gives the homeless podiatric care, and the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Student Wellness Commission, as a way for students to participate in ongoing projects the student groups are working on.

Vito Costanzo said the amount of resources the university brings in to help the city is still the most impressive aspect of Volunteer Day.

“We’ve never really made a concentrated effort (before) to reach out and talk to student organizations (to show) that students can continue beyond Volunteer Day,” Corell said.

Volunteering was not only an opportunity to help others, but it gave Lani Ashida, a first-year biology student, a chance to get to know other students.

“I met a lot of people and now I really want to get involved in the UCLA Volunteer Center,” said Ashida, who attended the event at the food bank with the Costanzos.

Several lawyers from Vito Costanzo’s law firm, Holland & Knight, joined in the efforts at the food bank.

Alan Watson, a partner at Vito Costanzo’s firm, seemed at ease among the group of college students as he assembled boxes with a team of four students clad in their light blue Volunteer Center shirts.

Watson said he appreciated the change of pace from the serious environment of a law firm.

“As opposed to hanging out with old people, (this is fun),” Watson said, smiling at the students helping him.

At the conclusion of the day’s work at the food bank, the volunteers gathered in a semicircle in the middle of the warehouse. They performed an echoing 8-clap as the food bank employees watched on.

Daniel Costanzo will not be required to participate in Volunteer Day next year. Still, the father-son duo may return to the same volunteer site, Vito Costanzo said.

“I thought it would be nice to do this all together,” he said. “It would be good (for us) to remember that (volunteering) is a lifelong commitment.”