B-School Students Volunteer

Harvard Business School (HBS) students took a break from case studies this past Saturday to help out with some real-life situations in the Boston community.

In a volunteer program organized by the HBS Volunteers, students painted storefronts in Roxbury, worked at a harbor-area homeless shelter and helped restructure a home for troubled adolescents in Jamaica Plain.

The program, Project Outreach, now in its seventh year, had a record participation of 750 students--45 percent more than last year.

The increase was heartening to the event's organizers.

"It is important that people at Harvard and Harvard Business take time [to volunteer]," said Michael J. Handelsman, a co-president of the Volunteers organization and a second-year business student. "Over four thousand hours of community service [were performed]."

Students have swarmed projects such as the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood House (JPNH), a 100-year-old safe house for troubled children and adolescents.

JPNH, now it its third years as part of Project Outreach, has been revitalized through the efforts of students who have painted cabinets, planted tulips and helped clean up.

Shelley Neill, executive director of the center, said the students are both "well-organized" and "perky" during their annual visit.

In addition to Project Outreach, the HBS Volunteers run tutoring programs and clothing drives.

A blood drive is also planned for next week, Handelsman said.