Students Lend a Hand in Bus Stop Makeovers

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Students Lend a Hand in Bus Stop Makeovers

From left:Kerri Kiernan, Daniel Zeleznik, Gary Liu, Christian J. Murillo C., Josue Gamez, Gina Hosterman and Kurihi Chargualaf volunteer to help clean up bus stops in Pomona.

While public transportation is a great way to cut back on traffic, save money and reduce your carbon footprint, some stops and stations don’t always look very pretty, says Kerri Kiernan, an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow at the Center for Community Service-Learning. For some, the untidiness of a bus stop deters them from using public transportation, she says.

On Nov. 21, Kiernan and Daniel Zeleznik, also an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, organized a group of 27 Cal Poly Pomona students, including people from Kappa Delta sorority, Society of Women’s Engineers and the Community Storytelling Mentors Club, to help clean up several Pomona bus stops. They removed trash and graffiti on stops along the Foothill Transit 480 and 482 lines during the half-day event.

“It’s wonderful for students to volunteer, give back and be visible within their community. Everyone really enjoyed the experience of cleaning up and using public transportation,” Kiernan says. “Not only did Pomona benefit from the clean up, but all the volunteers saw firsthand how important public transportation is to the city and the environment.”

From left: Josue Gamez, Christian J. Murillo C., Gina Hosterman, and Gary Liu help clean up a bus stop.

As AmeriCorps fellows, Kiernan and Zeleznik plan and recruit for three community service projects in Pomona during their year of service, and the bus stop clean-up was their first event. On Jan. 23, volunteers can participate in the Family Fun Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Students, children and families can pick up trash and remove graffiti near the YMCA building in downtown Pomona. Participants will also create a fabric mural that will be displayed in the Pomona Public Library.

Four AmeriCorps Promise Fellows are currently serving at Cal Poly Pomona. Julia Koets and Adriana Ruvalcaba work for the Academy for Literacy Through The Arts. Kiernan and Zeleznik serve at the Center for Community Service-Learning, where they recruit volunteers for the Homework Help Center at the Pomona Public Library and for the Storytelling Initiative at the Boys & Girls Club.

For more volunteer opportunities, stop by the Center for Community Service-Learning in Building 1-113 for information.