Commie House goes 'Into Streets'

Outwardly, Aletha Todd Daniel seemed confident. But a faint waiver in her voice belied a certain nervousness underneath. "I think Saturday will be pretty successful," Daniel said. "I hope Saturday will be pretty successful . . . " Daniel, a graduate assistant for the University's Program for Student-Community Involvement and a student in the Graduate School of Education, is helping to organize Community House's first annual "Into the Streets" program for this weekend. Approximately 200 residents of the lower Quadrangle dormitory will fan out over Philadelphia tomorrow to observe and help at 22 community service agencies throughout the city. Organizers say the effort is intended to make Community House's freshman residents aware of neighborhood problems and what they can do to help. It is also serving as a pilot program which could be expanded to other dormitories next year. The program is the result of efforts by last year's Community House residents to come up with an event more in keeping with the spirit of the college house than their annual picnic trip. Residents approached Senior Faculty Resident Peter Conn with their idea for a community service program last April. "This was an idea that came from the students, it didn't come from anyone else," Conn said. "Actually, my initial reaction was sort of skeptical because of the amount of organization that was involved." "In my view, it's a really remarkable undertaking," the English professor added. "I think it has a chance to make a real difference." Daniel and others planned the event over the summer, arranging for the agencies to show students what they do, and for the students, still at home, to choose agencies. Working down to the wire this week, they were putting the finishing touches on Saturday's bagel brunch and a hoagie dinner, and obtaining everything from tee-shirts to subway tokens. Nursing junior Sarah Horne said Wednesday she was somewhat surprised to find herself on the opposite side of the room from her fellow R.A.s. "It made me stop and think, because there's got to be some point to the other side or they wouldn't be standing over there," Horne said. Horne's group of about 10 students will help out at the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank. A local food company has donated bins of macaroni weighing about 1,000 pounds to the food bank and the food bank needs help bagging the pasta for distribution. The agencies said they are looking forward to the chance to meet the students. "I'm very pleased that Penn is making this emphasis for freshmen to get out and see what's around them in West Philadelphia," Habitat for Humanity volunteer Ellen Lindsey said. Students who visit Habitat for Humanity will help rebuild a block of West Philadelphia homes. "If the students can have open eyes and see the realities of what is here, it can lead to good things," she added. "Into the Streets" started in New York City in 1989. It has also been tried in Los Angeles and New Orleans, and will be attempted on campuses nationally in November. Program for Student-Community Involvement Director Todd Waller said "Into the Streets" has been known to change lives in the past. "Some people have . . . profound reactions, where they've changed their major or made career decisions," Waller said.

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