College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Laura Santana
Elias Cueto
Dilsa Gonzalez
Jeremy Peacher
Daniel Montoya

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Our social change project was called Project TJ. We worked in conjunction with YMCA, Sears, Kaiser-Permanente, and the Delta Upsilon fraternity to collect clothes, food, and toys for donation. These are the different organizations that our group members work for and participate in. Even though the YMCA was supposed to be our main partnership in the project, we did not get the support and donations we originally had hoped for. Because of the unexpected fires throughout San Diego, we found it difficult to get backing for a different cause. Many of the people who would have given to us in turn gave to fire victims. We therefore took it upon ourselves to find other organizations to work with.

By November 14, we had gathered approximately 400 articles of clothing, several bags of toys, and even a few cans of food. The donations were collected and taken to Tijuana where we distributed them at the Casa de Pobres. On the day that we went to Tijuana, we were all wearing tee shirts that had been donated to us by the YMCA. After arriving at the Casa de Pobres, Sister Raquel told us about their organization and how it strived to help the Mexican community. She was the person in charge and gave us a tour of the facilities before we unloaded our donations. There was a cafeteria where ten people were allowed to enter and eat at one time. There were long lines of people waiting to eat. People began to line up starting at seven in the morning. The people seemed to be very hungry and eager to enter the cafeteria. There was also a clinic with two doctors, a psychologist, and a nurse. Many of the people we saw had extreme irregularities to their bodies. Some were missing limbs, others were missing eyes, and one gentleman by the name of Salvador had a four inch diameter hole in his chest. The clinic services were desperately needed. All services are paid for by donations. Men were only allowed to take one outfit and the women were allowed to take more items for themselves and their children. The sister would stand at the door and regulate how many people could enter.

We were enriched by the application of several different social and ethical theories in our project including Land Ethic, Virtue Theory, Compensatory Justice, and Utilitarianism. The group was able to determine that the cost benefit of the whole project favored the execution of the project. It was calculated that the overall benefit of the project was $11,000 higher than donating the money. This project opened the door for further endeavors that will help the Casa de Pobres. Kaiser Permanente has agreed to donate overstocked medical supplies to the clinic at the Casa de Pobres, valued at several thousand dollars.

As the project came to a close, there was a feeling of accomplishment and success. There was a lingering reminder of how fortunate we are to live in America. There was also discussion among the group of when we would be back to revisit the Casa de Pobres. Those who received the donations were very grateful and thankful for our kindness. It was important for us to keep in mind that though we were giving them our less desirables, we respected their dignity. At the same time we were giving to these people, the children were giving us gifts of thanks. It made you think about what is a priority in life