Cats in the Community offered a day of community service Thursday as more than 350 students volunteered their time to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day by doing some good.

Students collaborated with the city and picked up trash, cleaned up parks and buildings and hung out with kids, said Jaypinderpal Virdee, Associated Students commissioner of community affairs and event organizer.

Lined up at Trinity Commons, students were broken up into groups and sent off to different areas.

Junior Ani Nayak, team leader of campus cleanup, stepped up to be a leader when the organization was short, he said. Nayak is also a candidate for commissioner of student organizations in the upcoming A.S. elections.

Nayak split his group of 10 students into two, he said. One group picked up litter around Tehama, Butte and Plumas halls while the other cleaned up along Big Chico Creek.

Freshman and Gamma Phi Beta member Brianna Firenze wanted to get involved in order to give back to the community, she said.

"We get Cesar Chavez Day off to show respect, not to take the day to go out and drink," Firenze said.

Greek involvement is important because they are looked at as partiers, she said.

Students cleaned out the basement of the Chico Museum and washed off graffiti on its walls.

Everyone knows this day as a big drinking holiday, so it’s good for students to be taking another route, sophomore psychology major Kerri Haley said.

Junior Krystal Elebiary played with second graders at Citrus Elementary School, she said. She heard about the event through CAVE, but attendance was optional.

"It doesn’t hurt for students to take three hours out of the year to show that they value their education and to establish grounding relationships with the people they meet," Elebiary said.

Students need to remember why they’re here, she said.

Freshman James Gibbs and senior psychology major Phillip Eddy were team leaders of the Citrus Elementary group, which consisted of 30 students.

Children don’t get many chances to participate in extra-curricular activities and students are trying to get them excited while being positive role models, Eddy said.

Students are showing sportsmanship, Gibbs said. Chavez was a community activist and we want to give back that same way.

Before Eddy came to Chico he knew it was a party school, he said. Eddy dislikes that stereotype and decided to go against it by using his positive traits to volunteer throughout the community.

Other volunteer activities included the Downtown Cans and Food Drive, where students went to houses to collect canned food, Virdee said.

Money was also raised, which was donated to Japan Red Cross while the canned food was given to the Catholic Ladies Relief, he said.

Last spring after 100 students took part in cleaning up the city, Virdee wanted to incorporate Cesar Chavez Day and community service, he said.

"Students should do something positive on the day it was given for," Virdee said.

Virdee hopes to build on the success of this year’s event and expand it next year.

"This is only the beginning," Virdee said.

    
Tasha Clark can be reached at    
tclark@theorion.com