Machine Shop Gives 100 Percent

There may be no free lunches in this world, but recently members of USC College’s natural sciences machine shop did enjoy a meal on the Dean’s dime.

USC College Dean Joseph Aoun picked up the lunch tab for machine shop employees Victor Jordan, Ramón Delgadillo and Don Wiggins after their unit reported 100 percent participation—the highest of any College unit—in the 2004 Good Neighbors Campaign fundraising drive.

The 2004 Campaign raised a total of $800,000 from USC faculty and staff for USC Neighborhood Outreach (UNO) and the United Way.

Aoun thanked the trio for their efforts on behalf of the College and the Campaign, and provided a voucher for their lunch at the Upstairs Commons restaurant.

“The Good Neighbors Campaign has played a key role in supporting the local community while positively impacting countless lives,” says Aoun. “Over the years, USC College faculty, staff and students have played an integral role in building even stronger relationships with our closest neighbors. These three staff members in particular provide an outstanding example of how generosity and commitment can provide additional educational opportunities for local children and their families.”

“They are only three, but they have given to the campaign every year, since the beginning,” says Tammara Seabrook Anderson, the Good Neighbors Campaign College staff co-chair and director of the Joint Educational Project (JEP). JEP administers two programs funded by Good Neighbors—USC Readers Plus and Peace Games.

“Our feeling is that if we look after the people in the neighborhood, they’ll look after us,” says Jordan, the foreman of the machine shop. Jordan—and Wiggins, an experimental machinist in the shop—have worked for the College for more than 17 years. Delgadillo, also an experimental machinist, has been at USC for the past 14 years.

The Office of the Dean of Academic Programs and, among larger College units, the School of International Relations also boasted strong participation, Anderson says. And some individuals gave big, with 37 College faculty and staff pledging 1 percent or more of their salary to the Campaign.

Since its inception in 1994, Good Neighbors has given 167 grants worth a total of $6.3 million to community organizations affiliated with USC. All of the funds raised go to the community. A full description of the Good Neighbors Campaign and the programs funded are available on the Web at www.usc.edu/goodneighbors.