The annual Community Service Fair, held on Sept. 13 in Xavier Center, hosted almost 70 different organizations, offering students a plethora of community service opportunities.

Each sophomore and junior must complete 25 hours of community service during the course of the year, and each senior embarks on the annual Senior Service Project in the month of January, completing a minimum of 78 hours. The Service Fair is a place for students to find opportunities to complete their hours and make a difference in their community.

Gabriel Gonzales, after-school director from St. Margaret’s Center, said, “I came to the Service Fair because there are too many students who want tutoring, and I don’t have enough time to tutor them. I was hoping I could find some students from Loyola who would be willing to help.”

Sophomore Ethan Brack enjoyed attending the fair as well. Brack said, “The Community Service Fair was helpful to me because it gave me the opportunity to check out many community service opportunities and ways to give back to the community.”

Urban Compass, another nonprofit organization that provides after-school support and homework help for kids, attended the fair for the first time. Xochiltl Bravo, executive director at Urban Compass, said, “We chose to come to the service fair because Loyola students are geared towards service, and are high achieving, college bound kids. That’s what we want our elementary students to experience. We want them to know that they can achieve high school graduation and college success.”

Sophomore Max Rauchberg was able to find service opportunities through the fair. He said, “The Community Service Fair helped me get in contact with many organizations in our community and gives me the opportunity to help people who are less fortunate than I am.”

According to director of community service Tom Zeko, the community service fair is integral in assisting students in choosing their service site.

Zeko said, “The fair is important because it helps Loyola students make better choices for their service sites in terms of location, need, and matching their skills with an organization that needs them.”

Jasmine Smalls, the Los Angeles regional coordinator for Reading Partners, was also able to find students to volunteer for her organization. Smalls said, “We chose to come to Loyola service fair because Loyola students are very interested in community service.”

Zeko said, “Guys that are coming in now, registering for senior project are telling me that they are making their choice based upon somebody they met and a place they found out about at the service fair. It is great for students to interact face-to-face with the organizations.”