In May of 2009, the Harvard Club of California participated in Harvard's first Global Day of Service by volunteering at the Raising Readers Literacy Festival. The response to our call for volunteers was overwhelming, and although at times we were perhaps a bit "overstaffed," everyone had a good time and enjoyed interacting with the children and their families. Connections for Children, the organization that ran the Literacy Festival, was truly impressed with our showing and had nothing but praise for our Crimson representatives, who engaged in such activities as reading children's books, working the book festival, helping with activities tables, distributing food and beverages, helping with clean-up & set-up, and entertaining the children in character as Clifford the Big Red Dog. (Kate Wiswell, AB '99, is pictured as Clifford.)

We weren't the only ones who volunteered on this big day! On the Global Day of Service website, you can see how associations across the world gave back on May 9, 2009.

More Global Days of Service are in the works in Cambridge, so if you have any ideas for our next big service event, please submit them here.