Brandeis' Waltham Group Celebrates 50 Years

WALTHAM, MA – Brandeis University's Waltham Group, its largest student club and one of the oldest university-based student service organizations in the country, will celebrate 50 years this weekend with two days of fun community service activities.

The year-long commemoration will begin Oct. 8 and 9 with a festival full of exciting volunteer opportunities, a carnival for kids and a gala dinner.

The Waltham Group was founded in 1966, in an era where student activism was on the rise. Brandeis recognized its responsibility to engage with the community and offered its students the opportunity to give back to Waltham. Since its founding, more than 20,000 students have volunteered with the Waltham Group, and its work contributed to Brandeis being named the top school in the country for community engagement in 2015.

Through the Waltham Group, Brandeis students work with every age group from kindergarteners through elders and assist organizations in tackling issues from student achievement to homelessness to health.

"Brandeis has always had a tremendous commitment not only to community engagement but also to social justice. And that’s what makes this program so successful," said Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said in a statement. "For 50 years, their hearts have governed their actions. Thank you to Brandeis and the Waltham Group for 50 years of service."

The Waltham Group’s community efforts over five decades include:
· 40,000 hours of community service a year
· 20,000 volunteers over 50 years
· 40 community partners
· 90 kids served by volunteers in 1966 – 875 being served in 2016
· Approximately 3,600 games of Scrabble played with elderly at nursing homes and assisted living facilities
· Nearly 100,000 cans collected in “Halloween for the Hungry,” in which Brandeis students go door to door collecting food
· Some 12,400 pints of blood collected in blood drives held three times a year since 1995
· An estimated 75,000 math problems solved by Waltham grade schoolers with homework help from of Brandeis students

"This anniversary celebrates 50 years of mutual learning and partnership with the city, schools, and local non-profits. Our efforts together help to build a community founded on mutual learning and life-long engagement," said Lucas Malo, Brandeis’ Director of Community Service, in a statement. "I cannot be more thankful to our community partners for their efforts in addressing the needs of our city while educating and serving as mentors to thousands of Brandeis students over the years."

Photo: Mike Lovett (Original uploader was Alight at en.wikipedia) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons