Local News in Brief : Irvine : UCI Students Sign Up to Help Those in Need

Scores of students at UC Irvine signed up Tuesday to help causes such as food banks, crime victim support and refugee assistance at the second annual Have a Heart Volunteerism Fair.

The purpose of the fair was to get students “into the community, doing actual volunteer service work,” assistant fair coordinator Steven K. Tajiri said. The fair was planned for Valentine’s Day, he said, because “it’s the time of year that people are thinking about other people.”

Biology student Grace N. Hussain, 20, who signed up with the Central Orange County Literacy Council of Costa Mesa, admitted she previously did volunteer work to “look good and put it on a resume.”

But Tuesday, she said, she signed up to help people learn to read. She disagreed with students who said they were too busy to help.

“You always have time if you try and make it,” she said.

Volunteer coordinator Laura Monks of Volunteer Center, Orange County-Central/South, said the group received 10 applications from students. The center provides volunteers to more than 600 nonprofit groups in Orange County.

However, John Ngo of the Orange County Refugee Community Resources Opportunity Project Inc. of Santa Ana said he was disappointed that only half a dozen students inquired about his group. He said that at least “the weather is perfect. It’s like compensation.”