Flashback: Penn Serves LA: Habitat for Humanity

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Kiera Reilly

When I worked for the University of Pennsylvania’s Western Regional Office in Los Angeles, I was fortunate to help a group of dedicated Penn volunteers as they created opportunities for local alumni to come together to serve the community. Since an initial meeting in April, 2012, this group, called Penn Serves LA, has organized numerous volunteer opportunities for Penn alumni and their families all over the greater Los Angeles region.

Here is a post I wrote on April 1, 2013, for the Frankly Penn blog about their Habitat for Humanity event.

In April of this year (2015) Penn Serves LA is offering several opportunities to serve with Meals on Wheels. You can learn more about the group and register to participate at one of their events via their website.

Here is the original post:

Penn Serves LA: Habitat for Humanity

By Kiera Reilly, C’93 @KieraReilly

On Saturday morning, March 9^th, I drove to a house in Lynnwood, California, hoping to take photos of the Penn Serves LA group working on a Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles project. There was a dumpster in the driveway, and a work truck parked out front, so I assumed I had arrived at the proper place. As I walked toward the home, I noticed people on the roof wearing Penn gear. I guess I’m at the right place, but why are they all on the roof? It turns out our job wasn’t to paint, as many of the volunteers expected, but to remove the roof from the house!

I checked in with the Habitat for Humanity on-site managers, and they said, “Oh, sure you can help…just sign this waiver, put on some gloves, grab some goggles and head up the ladder!” Gulp. This wasn’t what I was expecting, but seeing that everyone else was on the roof, I took a deep breath and up I went to join twenty other Penn alumni and friends.

Penn Serves LA volunteers at Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

Penn Serves LA volunteers hard at work taking off the roof.

The Penn Serves LA volunteers were all busy working with tools to scrape and pull tiles and nails off of the roof. Others were filling buckets with broken-up roof pieces. That became my job, filling a big paint bucket with roof pieces, walking over to the edge, and flinging the contents over the side into the dumpster. On my first attempt, about half of the contents landed on the ground, and half in the dumpster. The bucket was heavy, and I felt like I might fling myself off the roof with it! The Habitat supervisor encouraged me to go closer to the edge of the roof, and if I felt the bucket going, just let it go. Pretty soon I got the hang of it, and wandered around the roof helping to collect and dump all the tiles everyone was helping to remove.

Penn Serves LA volunteers on the roof for Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

Back-breaking work.

The Habitat staff stopped us for water breaks, making everyone climb down, drink some water and rest. And we enjoyed a long lunch break, with a beautifully displayed spread of sandwiches, tangerines, carrots, chips and cookies provided by Jane Gutman, CW’73, PAR’14, PAR’16, one of Penn Serves LA’s directors. While we ate, our group talked about jobs, where we lived, and what we studied at Penn. Everyone seemed happy to be there and were enjoying the tough work since we were doing it together.

Penn Serves LA volunteers work on a garage roof Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

While most of us worked on the house, this group removed the roof from the garage.

Happy Penn Serves LA volunteers.

Penn Serves LA volunteers moving a tarp from the lawn Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

Now we had to move the tarp from the front lawn.

The tarp was really heavy for Penn Serves LA volunteers Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

It was really, really heavy!

Habitat for Humanity currently has grants to work on homes in three areas of Los Angeles, and Lynwood is one. The family we were completing the house for currently lives in 100 square feet of housing. Recipients of homes are asked to contribute “sweat equity” of 250 or 500 hours, depending on whether their home was remodeled or whether they were receiving a newly built home. They get 30-year mortgages with no interest, and only one person has ever defaulted because the folks who get the houses are all hard workers with good credit.

The roof our group removed was 1,600 square feet, and we worked alongside the woman and her family who will be living in the house. They were great and so excited about their future home.

“What a fantastic experience it was to work alongside so many terrific young Penn alums and their friends. We got crazy dirty doing really hard work, but it was so satisfying and the group was Quaker strong, determined and indefatigable,” said Jane Gutman.

Jane continued, “I am soooo tired and wait ‘til you see the photos showing how dirty we were…I probably won’t be able to walk or move tomorrow, but the Habitat guys were so encouraging and supportive and our group totally came together and just never stopped…an awesome day!”

Penn Serves LA founder Jane Gutman helping to remove the roof Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

Jane Gutman helping remove the roof pieces.

Penn Serves LA director Jane Gutman showing off roof dirt Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles

Jane Gutman showing us all the dirt from the roof!

The Habitat for Humanity event, which was co-sponsored by the Southern California Regional Advisory Board, Wharton Club of Southern California, and PennClubLA, was the fourth Penn Serves LA event since its launch in May 2012.

The Penn Serves LA Habitat for Humanity volunteers after removing the roof! Los Angeles

The Penn Serves LA Habitat for Humanity volunteers after removing the roof! Hurrah, Hurrah!

See all of the photos from our day here.

Are you active in community service? Want to get your favorite nonprofit involved? If you have a nonprofit in mind for a future Penn Serves LA event, let us know. Our initiative provides alumni with the unique opportunity to showcase their favorite charitable organization. Send us an email at pennservesla@gmail.com with your name and Penn affiliation, the organization you would like us to serve, why you got involved and how Penn Serves might help. The group would like to expand to other cities, so please contact us if you’d like to spearhead a similar effort in your town.

Penn Serves LA is an initiative to encourage Penn alumni, parents and family across all schools and all years to come together and serve those in need through established nonprofits working in underserved communities. Children and spouses of alumni and parents of current students are also invited to participate (please check age requirements). Penn Serves LA is regularly scheduling service events throughout the year. Penn Serves LA is working in partnership with PennClubLA, Wharton Club of Southern California, and SCRAB.

You can read about our first event at Turning Point Shelter in Santa Monica, our second event at the Midnight Mission, and our third event at Inner City Arts.

The Penn Softball team volunteered at Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey – here’s the link to a story and video about their experience.

This article originally appeared on the Frankly Penn blog on April 1, 2013.

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A WARM #FriFotos

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Kiera Reilly

The warm sun hits a colorful building in Trinidad, Cuba

Two weeks ago, as everyone on the east coast was suffering from record low temperatures, snow and ice, the theme for #FriFotos was WARM.

It was fun to look through my photos and see which ones depicted a warm-feel. The first photo above is from Trinidad, Cuba. This colonial town is bathed in beautiful light early in the morning, which is when two of the travelers in our group and I took a taxi into town ahead of our guided tour so we could wander the streets and take photos. The lighting was just right, and the colors of the town popped everywhere we turned.

When I visited Rome in May of 2013, it was a bit cooler than I expected. I ended up wearing several of my t-shirts at once to keep warm. But the warmth of the sun on this bright day, showcased the beauty of the city. We were at the top of the Vittorio Emanuele II monument when I took this photo.

Rome on a warm, sunny day as seen from the Vittorio Emanuel II monument (aka The Wedding Cake)

Rome on a warm, sunny day as seen from the Vittorio Emanuele II monument (aka The Wedding Cake)

One of my favorite places in the world is the island of Kauai in the state of Hawaii. We always stay on the North Shore, where there is beautiful scenery and lush vegetation. This photo is of the Hanalei Valley lookout – there are always cars here stopped to take photos of this scene overlooking the taro fields.

The Hanalei Valley on Kauai’s North Shore.

We were in Buenos Aires in May of 2014, and as it is the start of winter in the part of the world, the weather was cool. But the lighting at the end of the day warmed up the luxurious Hotel Alvear.

Hotel Alvear in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In December, I flew to Honolulu to meet up with my friend Rosemary who had traveled to Hawaii for the very first time in order to attend the opening ceremony of, “The Eddie.” This annual invitational big-wave surf competition was celebrating it’s 30th year, although the event has only been held nine times. Waves need to reach a certain height for a sustained period in Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore in order for the competition to run. At the beginning of the holding period each year (usually from early December through late February when the North Shore waves are the biggest), there is an opening ceremony with the Aikau Ohana and the invited surfers and alternates for the competition. After the opening ceremony, the surfers paddle out to the ocean for a ceremony. You can see more photos from the opening ceremony, which was on December 4, 2014, here.

Paddle-out for the opening ceremony of The Eddie in Waimea Bay, Oahu.

The sunsets in Hawaii are always spectacular, and on my last night there in December, the sunset in Waikiki did not disappoint. It was a warm aloha before my flight home that night.

Warm Waikiki Sunset

About #FriFotos on Twitter

Here’s a quick guide of the rules by Jeffrey Epstein.

#FriFotos was started on 15 October 2010 by Jonathan Epstein (@EpsteinTravels). Jonathan is the President and Owner of Celebrated Experiences, a company focusing on travel to the UK and Ireland. He is passionate about photography, his favorite hobby. Each week Jonathan cohosts #FriFotos with Stephanie Diehl (@TravelDesigned), Charles Yap (@CharlesYap), and two guest co-hosts that change each week. Jeffrey Epstein (@jeffreyinmotion), CEO of HBIM was a key advisor in the creation of #FriFotos and continues to assist in the Forum’s growth and success.

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Flashback: It’s Cold Outside!

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Kiera Reilly

Given the beautiful weather we’ve been having in Los Angeles the past few weeks, and the frigid temperatures on the east coast, I thought it would be fun to re-visit a post I wrote for the Frankly Penn blog last year (March 13, 2014 to be exact):

I work in Penn’s Los Angeles office, and I always enjoy returning to campus for some seasonal weather. When I was back on campus the last week in February for campus meetings and the annual Penn Alumni board retreat, I was treated to a real winter blast.

I left this in Los Angeles….

And arrived for a week of cold weather and some snow!

My Sweeten House colleagues were less than excited to see more snow given the harsh winter this year, but I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I even enjoyed bundling up in all my winter clothes that I never get to wear in Los Angeles, especially on Friday, when the temperatures were in the teens.

The next time I’m on campus, for Alumni Weekend, campus will be lush and green and in bloom for spring.

This article originally appeared on the Frankly Penn blog on March 13, 2014.

Zoom, Zoom and Vroom, Vroom for CARS on #FriFotos

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Kiera Reilly

The theme for #FriFotos a few weeks ago was cars. It was hard choosing which pictures to share from the myriad car shows and races I have attended, in addition to the photos of cars spotted while traveling around the world.

(The #FriFotos theme for tomorrow, February 20, 2015, is CHOCOLATE)

Every August, we head to the Monterey peninsula in northern California for a weekend full of car shows, auctions, viewing and races. We attend the annual Concorso Italiano celebration of Italian-made cars, watch the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, marvel at the cars up for auction at the many car auctions taking place throughout the weekend, and walk the greens at Pebble Beach for the highlight of the weekend, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

No matter where you are that weekend, you’ll see exotic cars, vintage cars, and expensive cars driving the local roads or parked in Pebble Beach, Carmel, Monterey and all the neighboring towns.

Here’s one car that we happened to pass by while taking a bike ride on 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach – the Bugatti Veyron. It seemed to be a professional shoot for this Hermes edition of the car, but as you can see, everyone stopped to take some photos of their own.

The Bugatti Veyron was posed for a professional photo shoot.

Beautiful interior of the Bugatti Veyron Hermes edition.

The paparazzi were out in full force to photograph the Bugatti Veyron.

For more views from the professional shoot, click here.

A few years ago, we traveled to France in June in order to watch the 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans), the most-famous and most-respected endurance car race in the world.

A few days before the race, there is a driver’s parade through the streets of Le Mans. The drivers for each race car (three drivers share driving duties during the 24 hours of the race) sit on the back of an open-air vehicle to parade through the town for the gathered crowd of car racing fans.

We were lucky to see Audi Team Joest drivers Tom Kristensen (aka “Mr. Le Mans”), Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish in the driver’s parade. During the race, I managed to capture one picture of McNish driving – the cars are so fast, it’s hard to capture them without blurring the photo!

Audi drivers Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish in the driver’s parade for Le Mans, 2010.

Allan McNish driving the Audie Team Joest car at Le Mans, 2010.

In 2007, we traveled to Italy for a group trip to Lake Como. Luckily, the weekend before the trip began was the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Italy at Monza.

I think this Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is beautiful, and during the race, it is the slowest car on the track as it serves as the official safety car.

F1 Safety Car at Monza.

As you might imagine, the Italian GP is the home race for Ferrari, and Ferrari fans, the tifosi, are always in attendance.

When I traveled to Cuba in 2011, it was fascinating to see the many 1950’s era cars driving around on the roads. It made it seem like I was in a time warp to another era.

The lavender shade of this car was perfect for the hot sunny days.

Cars in Havanna – not all of them were old.

About #FriFotos on Twitter

Here’s a quick guide of the rules by Jeffrey Epstein.

Wood for #FriFotos

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Kiera Reilly

Last week’s #FriFotos theme was wood, and here are the few pictures I shared via Twitter.

This Friday, the theme is RED, no doubt because Valentine’s Day is Saturday, February 14th. I can’t wait to see the beautiful photos that everyone will share.

The parliament building in Budapest has beautiful wood carvings.

At one of the Christmas markets in Budapest, I saw all these Santa faces painted on a slice of wood.

I loved the beautiful wood on these trees I saw while hiking above Park City in October.

This Lipizzaner horse peaks out of his wood stall in Vienna.

About #FriFotos

Here’s a quick guide of the rules by Jeffrey Epstein.

#FriFotos – Signs

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Kiera Reilly

The theme for this past week’s #FriFotos (July 18, 2014) was SIGNS.

I take photos of signs when I travel to remind me of the different languages I see and hear when I’m in a different country. The words look beautiful.

Here are the “signs” that I shared.

Go Kings Go signs in Manhattan Beach during the Stanley Cup Parade for the Los Angeles Kings

Sign for the Wharton San Francisco building

Protestors in Zadar, Croatia carry signs.

Sign for a flower shop in Paris

McDonald’s signs as seen in Kyoto

Sign above a sushi restaurant in Kyoto, Japan

Neon signs in Hong Kong

Street signs in Helsinki, Finland

Signs marking the anniversary of the solidarity movement in Gdansk, Poland

Subway signs in Beijing, China

Do you take photos of signs when you travel? What signs have you seen?

About #FriFotos

Here’s a quick guide on the rules by Jeffrey Epstein.

We Ran for the Lives of Dogs

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Kiera Reilly

To celebrate Independence Day, I took my dogs Koa and Lau Lau to Riviera Village in Redondo Beach, California, to participate in the Village Runner Redondo Beach 4th of July 5K.

We were running and walking to help raise funds for Rover Rescue, a local dog rescue organization that saves dogs from Los Angeles shelters and helps them find permanent homes (my original post is here).

Koa and Lau Lau are trying to remain calm before the race starts.

Dave and I adopted first Koa, then Lau Lau, from Rover Rescue, and we admire and respect the commitment they have to find the right home for the dogs that they save. We want to make sure that all dogs find a safe and loving home.

Running along the Esplanade in Redondo Beach. Summer morning are usually like this due to the "marine layer."

Running along the Esplanade in Redondo Beach. Summer mornings are usually like this due to the “marine layer.”

I posted here, and on Facebook, and asked friends and family to donate money. Although it was a bit of a last-minute fundraising effort, I’m pleased to report that we raised $600 for Rover Rescue! We are still accepting donations. If you would like to contribute, visit the pledge and donation site here.

The group at the front is already on their way to the finish line.

Koa and Lau Lau were dressed in red, white and blue bandanas to celebrate the birthday of the U.S.A., and I wore my U.S. Soccer hat and Rover Rescue t-shirt. The boys were very excited on race day, probably because of all the people gathering before the start of the race. We stopped by the Rover Rescue tent to visit our friends there. We saw a group of runners from their vet, Family Pet Clinic of Redondo Beach, and even said hi to the vet tech who recognized them (Koa thought he seemed much nicer when he wasn’t trying to poke and prod him).

The race begins!

The race started at 8:00 am, and while everyone dashed off, we waited a bit so that we’d have more room to run – zig-zagging around walkers and runners is a bit more difficult with two dogs on leashes.

We walked and ran the course, and while we weren’t particularly fast, we sure had fun! We finished with a race time of 42:04.

Dave found us along the way and took some action photos. You can see more photos of the entire race in the Village Runner 5K Facebook page and on their website.

After the race, the boys posed for some photos.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my efforts on behalf of Rover Rescue. Koa and Lau Lau want to especially thank dogs Travis, Charlie, Natalia, Lizzie, Mario, and Luigi for their donations. It’s nice that both two and four-legged donors support us!

There’s still time to donate – help us reach our goal of $850! Click here to contribute!

We had so much fun running with fellow neighbors and citizens from all over the South Bay, and loved seeing everyone in red, white and blue. Look for us to race again next year!

How did you celebrate July 4th?

Running for the Life of a Dog

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Kiera Reilly

This July 4th, Koa and Lau Lau are taking me to the Village Runner Redondo Beach 5K where we plan to run, walk, wag our tails, get some head scratches and raise funds for Rover Rescue.

Rover Rescue is a a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue & placement of homeless dogs from Los Angeles animal shelters. Rover Rescue’s mission is “until every dog has a home.” You can read more about the organization here.

Koa and Lau Lau found us through Rover Rescue, and we can’t thank RR enough for caring about rescuing and finding the right homes for dogs in Los Angeles shelters. We want to make sure that all dogs find a safe and loving home.

Rover Rescue asks that each participant raise $200. I plan to contribute that amount but hope that with Koa and Lau Lau’s adorable photo above that some of you would be willing to help me raise more.

We would be so appreciative of any amount you would be willing to donate!

Please click here to make a donation. Rover Rescue is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

Thank you for your support!

Woof, woof,

Kiera, Koa and Lau Lau

Kiera Reilly

Planes, Trains and Formula 1

Category Archives: United States

Flashback: Penn Serves LA: Habitat for Humanity

Penn Serves LA: Habitat for Humanity

Your message has been sent

A WARM #FriFotos

Your message has been sent

Flashback: It’s Cold Outside!

Zoom, Zoom and Vroom, Vroom for CARS on #FriFotos

Wood for #FriFotos

#FriFotos – Signs

We Ran for the Lives of Dogs

Running for the Life of a Dog

We would be so appreciative of any amount you would be willing to donate!

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We would be so appreciative of any amount you would be willing to donate!

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