By Glenn Billman, deputy news editor
Dozens of students hit the streets surrounding campus Sunday to beautify the Fenway and Mission Hill neighborhoods after a weekend of partying and littering. The group, called the Breakfast Club, meets almost every Sunday of the school year to pick up trash and give back to the community.
Off Campus Student Services (OCSS) started the Breakfast Club in 2008. Groups of students, led by community ambassadors from the OCSS, collect between eight and 14 bags of trash every weekend between the two sites. After an hour of collecting beer cases, half-empty coffees, wrappers and other garbage, OCSS treats student volunteers to coffee and donuts.
OCSS Director Rebecca Regan said because so many students live and socialize in the Fenway and Mission Hill areas, it is important for students to help pick up the trash that may have been left behind by their peers and consider how their actions affect their neighbors.
“So many of our students live out in the community,” Regan said. “And I think it’s really important for students who live in the community to understand that they’re not only part of the Northeastern community, but they’re part of the Greater Boston community, and within their small neighborhood community — whether they live in Mission Hill or Fenway — that they are part of that and a contributing member.”
In the 2016-17 school year, OCSS reported 374 students from 58 groups spent 437 hours with the Breakfast Club and gathered 119 bags of trash. The trash is then thrown away in the North Lot or in the dumpsters of one of the group’s partners, which include JP Licks, Mike’s Donuts and Penguin Pizza.
Community Ambassadors like fifth-year double journalism and finance major Maddie Ives take turns leading the collection every weekend. Ives led 31 students to pick up eight bags of trash around the Fenway area Sunday, and she said she estimates that about half the litter on the roads is a product of Northeastern students.
“A lot of the residents are really happy when they see us because we’re trying to make Northeastern have a better image when it comes to the residents, because it’s difficult living next to students,” Ives said. “It’s actually really nice, and you can see a physical difference. Residents have come out, asking us what we’re doing, thanking us for the work. So it feels good too at the same time.”
Regan also said one of the draws of the Breakfast Club is how easy it is for students. After registering via email, all volunteers have to do is show up, pick up gloves and bags and get to work.
“When it comes to students, you all are so overcommitted. You have your classes, you have your clubs, you have so much going on,” Regan said. “So the ease of allowing students to get involved is huge, because if it’s something to sign up for and show up for more students are going to do it.”
Several of the recurring volunteers are members of on campus groups that require philanthropy hours, such as fraternities and sororities. Andrew McCann is the community service chair for Lambda Phi Epsilon, and after less than 30 minutes, he and four brothers had filled almost an entire trash bag. He said he likes the Breakfast Club, and he always tries to sign himself and his brothers up for hours.
“The free coffee is pretty great,” said McCann, a third-year computer science major. “Location is awesome, you’re just walking around campus and doing it. I don’t think there’s any bad things about it at all, except maybe right now I’m wearing this sweater and it’s 80 degrees out. Really regrettable, but that has nothing to do with Breakfast Club.”
Fellow Lambda Phi Epsilon member and second-year finance major Sunny Shi was on his first Breakfast Club outing after rushing last semester, and he said he hadn’t noticed how much trash was on the street before.
“You don’t really look at it until you have to look at it,” Shi said. “Then you notice how much stuff is lying there.”
So far, Shi said he enjoyed volunteering with the Breakfast Club and anticipates coming back. After making volunteering a personal habit in high school, he thought more students should start in giving back.
“I know the first community event I went to back in high school, it was sort of like a forced situation I put myself in to get hours,” Shi said. “But then after you go to a couple of them, you start realizing if everyone started doing community service, the world would be such a better place. And that sounds kind of cheesey, but there’s so many people who don’t do anything. If they just get up like this and do an hour of work every week for something they’re not going to get anything in return for, I think the world would be a better place.”
