The nation’s largest higher education system, California community colleges, is pushing to achieve the Hands Across California challenge with Bakersfield College participating with the objective of winning, what could be, the greatest charitable donation given to a higher learning institution in American history.
In 2008, The Bernard Osher Foundation gave a gift $25 million to the fund as well as creating a completion among the communities in the state that would match the Foundation’s donation with $25 million if the 112 colleges involved can collectively raise an additional $50 million by deadline, June 2011. The $100 million target would result in a permanent scholarship endowment for the California community colleges.
The HAC campaign, produced by Ken Kragen, who also designed Hands Across America in 1986, hopes to bring people together and join hands to make a physical link across California. Mike Stepanovich, executive director of BC’s Foundation department described the envisioned scene as a community showing support with their hands.
“One and a half million people being linked hand-in-hand all over the state of California, including Bakersfield to San Francisco and all the way down to San Diego,” Stepanovich said.
He continued with how BC has prepared for the chain-linked chain challenge by continually promoting the event and encouraging participants to get involved.
“The important thing is that BC has reached its enrollment goal and is taking the steps in the right direction to get things moving. We are getting as many people as possible to pledge, but it’s been a work in progress, going slowly but surely,” Stepanovich stated.
Roger Sanchez, BC’s Student Government Association liaison to the dean, is at the head of the student involvement and pledging process as well and discussed student participation.
“Students can pledge by going online with a link found on the SGA Web site, www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/sga, as well as coming into the student services center. I’ve been giving out my cell number as well, so students can just text me their name, zip code and email address and their signed up. It’s just as easy as that,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez also explained that donations could be made online as well by texting the word HANDS to a number also provided on the HAC Web site by the actual event date that is scheduled for April 17 at 2 p.m.
The plan for the HAC fundraiser consists of the colleges meeting their student enrollment criteria and by the donations and pledges from students, faculty and the community alike. Their contributions will be matched, dollar for dollar, by the Bernard Osher Foundation.
Willing participants make a pledge to participate in the holding hands task and contribute donations toward the monetary goal. On the scheduled day of the event, people will be informed of all the locations and starting points of this 1,500-mile line and decide where the want to stand the historic event.
A map that illustrates the event’s route can be found online at the HAC Web site, which highlights where the line will start in each city or town and displays the intended direction of the human-linked chain.
The goal is to stay off extremely high traffic roads and streets as well as completely steering clear of freeways and highways, especially in the southern-urban areas like Los Angeles.
According to Jill Scofield, media contact in Sacramento and state representative for HAC, stated in a press release that, “Quincy Jones, George Lopez, Mark Hamilton, Yvette Brown and John Farce are among some of the celebrities involved in the event.”
The only missing link to this chain of hands is the community colleges between Bakersfield and Stockton some of who refuse to participate and some who were not able to meet the enrollment requirements.
This is where the chain was unable to complete the intended circle, which led to BC and San Joaquin Delta College becoming stopping points.