Departments
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Week of 17 April 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 28 |
Feature
Article
Presidential praise for SMG student
by Cliff Bernard
Hugh Liang is not unlike many other BU students. He comes from a reasonably well-off family. He's bright, motivated, and has his career path already mapped out -- a degree in accounting and finance and a job waiting for him with Arthur Andersen. But Liang (SMG'98) is also very aware of the privileges he enjoys and of the many who are less fortunate than he is.
Liang came to the United States in 1991 from Guang Zhou in the province of Guang Dong, one of China's new economic growth zones, where he had a sheltered childhood. He does not remember encountering poverty and hunger in his homeland. Nor did he encounter it during his high school years in this country, when, he says, his energies were focused on adapting to his new home.
It wasn't until he came to Boston to begin his undergraduate studies that the problem of homelessness and poverty struck home to him. He remembers seeing beggars soliciting money from motorists at traffic lights and encountering homeless people in Kenmore Square. The experience had a profound effect on him.
Liang is a confident young man of 23, with a round, open face, neatly trimmed black hair, and a smile that seems the warmer for his mostly sober demeanor.
"In my home in China," he explains, "I didn't see any hunger. I was insulated from all that. But here, I didn't know how to handle it or how to tell others to handle it. I walked down the street and I saw people who were hungry, and I wanted to do something about it."
So when Liang found a pamphlet from the First Year Student Outreach Program (FYSOP) among his freshman orientation materials, he saw a way to help. FYSOP, Liang says, offered "an opportunity to help other people and to make BU memorable for me. I needed something to do other than school. FYSOP offered six issue areas. I chose hunger and homelessness."
Why hunger? Because, Liang says, hunger is basic. "If you want to eat," he explains, "you have a choice of when you eat, what you eat, and how much. I had the choice. My parents provided for me. But others do not." Relieving hunger, Liang says, is the first requirement for lifting people out of poverty.
After his stint with FYSOP, Liang cast about for another cause to which to devote his energy and his growing passion for community service.
"At the end of the program I said to one of the staff advisers, 'This is the end of FYSOP. It's only a week. What else can I do?' And she told me about this very challenging program called Student Food Rescue. And she told me, 'Well, if you want to volunteer for it, you will have to be up by eight o'clock a couple of days a week to do food runs. You will still be going out if it's very, very cold and delivering food to people who need it. If you only do it once or twice a semester, that's nothing -- the key is commitment.' And I said, 'Right, that's a challenge I want to take on.' "
Liang joined the Boston University Community Service Center, a student-run community outreach service, and started work with Student Food Rescue (SFR), picking up surplus food from supermarkets and distributing it to homeless shelters such as the Pine Street Inn and food distribution centers such as the Allston-Brighton Food Pantry.
The need for services such as SFR was driven home to Liang one winter's day. It was snowing heavily, the kind of weather that forces old people to stay indoors.
"We delivered the food to Kenmore Abbey, the elderly housing complex," he says. "If we had not gone there, it would have been devastating. There were 40 people inside who would not have eaten that day."
As manager of the program during his sophomore and junior years, Liang increased the volunteer base by 67 percent and the amount of donated food by 20 percent. The program distributes 6,000 pounds of food weekly, an achievement that was recognized on February 4, 1998, with a Presidential Points of Light Award. These awards are cosponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and are part of the President's Service Awards, established in 1982 to honor outstanding volunteer work by individuals, families, groups, organizations, businesses, and labor unions. The Foundation receives 3,000 to 5,000 nominations each year, from which 50 finalists are chosen.
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Hugh Liang, winner of a
Presidential Points of Light Award, in the
Community Service Center, where he is a volunteer.
Photo by Vernon Doucette
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Craig Mack, assistant director of the Office of Orientation and Off-Campus Services, explains Liang's success: "I think it has to do with his commitment and drive to help others, and his ability to motivate others. You know, he stayed behind during vacations to ensure that the deliveries went out. He gets the best out of people. He's a real joy to work with."
Liang is well-liked throughout the Community Service Center. "Hugh is awesome," says Erin Weitecha, program manager for AIDS outreach, "very dedicated, generous."
Priya Nampoothiri (CAS'99), one of Liang's two successors as manager of SFR, says, "Hugh is so dedicated to everything he does. Normally there are two SFR managers, but Hugh managed it all by himself. He has tremendous energy -- he's always curious, always learning."
Comanager Carla Sosenko (CAS'98), adds, "We couldn't have gotten as far as we have in this job without Hugh's help and support."
Liang and other Points of Light recipients will be handed their awards, engraved sterling silver medallions and certificates signed by the President, at a ceremony to be held at the White House during National Volunteer Week, April 19 to 25, 1998.
Liang is emphatic that while he may be the person receiving the award, the credit belongs to all the workers at the Community Service Center.
"I'm the guy they feature, but all the volunteers are important. It's a team effort. Everyone has contributed immensely to the program. I want to thank all the students who volunteered. I don't know how to thank them enough." Liang speaks slowly, leaning forward to press home his point. "I'm just one of the many people who want to help. I'll be proud to say I graduated from BU, but more proud to say I worked with SFR for four years."