Pitt students returned to Oakland Saturday afternoon with red cheeks, red noses and big smiles… Pitt students returned to Oakland Saturday afternoon with red cheeks, red noses and big smiles after volunteering with Pitt Make a Difference Day.

“I just felt like it was good to give back to the community,” junior William McIlhenny said. McIlhenny had just returned from a morning of picking up trash on the side of the road in Summer Hill, about 10 minutes away from Oakland.

PMADD is in its second year as a student-organized event during which students take “the opportunity to give back to the city that is our home for most of the year,” according to the PMADD website.

Registration for PMADD began at 8:30 a.m. in the William Pitt Union Saturday, and 50 buses left between 9:15 and 9:30 to take students to neighborhoods throughout Allegheny County. Two groups of students stayed in Oakland to pick up trash.

About 2,500 students signed up for PMADD ahead of time, either individually or through a student group. Organizations included students from Greek life, campus groups such as the Pitt Democrats and Feel Good, residence hall floors and groups of friends.

Many students cleaned up trash on the side of the road. Pitt junior Kent Poole said he picked up wrappers, beer bottles and broken glass in Summer Hill.

“It just makes me wonder, how could people throw away all this stuff … just into nature and have no regard for how it affects the environment?” he said.

Pitt juniors Ryan Samson, Aleksey Smalianchuk, Matt Evans and Pam Derck found some interesting items while cleaning up Wiley Street in Middle Hill, about five minutes away from campus. Among other items, they found a mixed CD and a saw.

“Even though it was really, really disgusting at times, we had really good fun,” Smalianchuk said.

Additionally, volunteers in Oakland made holiday cards for retirement homes and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. They also put together safe sex kits for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, an agency that provides support services for individuals with HIV/AIDS and also works to prevent the further spread of the disease.

The Student Government Board sponsored PMADD, while Student Volunteer Outreach funded the program by paying for buses and supplies. The Division of Student Affairs also supported PMADD, offering Outside the Classroom Curriculum credit for participation. Staff and faculty members from different departments within Student Affairs helped with registration and worked alongside students at off-campus sites while keeping on-campus organizers updated on their groups’ progress.

PMADD is the University portion of nation-wide Make a Difference Day, which will occur next weekend. SGB scheduled PMADD to occur early to coincide with Homecoming. It serves as a kick-off to homecoming activities, and homecoming candidates are required to participate.

Nine students make up the steering committee for PMADD, which is chaired by senior Sarah Miess, a Pitt Program Council member in her second year working for the event. While the Student Government Board primarily organized PMADD last year, other student leaders took over the organization of the event this year.