USD Magazine Spring 2006

[ V ] I S FOR VOLUNT E ER I NG AS A T EAM

While it stands to reason that USD athletics teams would band together

to improve their skills and beat their opponents, there’s a philanthropic

tendency at work that may be less apparent: The women’s basketball

team is committed to mentoring students at downtown San Diego’s

Kimbrough Elementary School, and all women’s teams get together for

Women and Girls in Sports Day, when mini-clinics are set up for girls to

practice athletic skills. Every year, the men’s golf team volunteers time

[ T ]

I S F O R TAX R E T U R N S

to help the PGA Tour raise money for their charitable organizations.

When accounting Professor Tom Dalton was in

Around the holidays, the whole Toreros community gets involved with

practice as a CPA, he relished the times when

November’s TLC Toy Drive, where attendees bring new unwrapped toys

he could waive his fee to help an elderly couple who had a complicated

to games for needy families. Additionally, more than 75 student athletes

tax situation, but couldn’t afford to hire an accountant. Now, he volun-

volunteer to shop with underprivileged children to help them pick out

teers his services for the nonprofit Friends of the Poor, which collects

gifts for their families and themselves during the Christmas season.

clothing and money for people in Mexico. “It’s a tremendous organiza-

tion that does a tremendous amount of good. I try to keep them in

good graces with the government.”That and other volunteer tax help

he provides give him a good feeling, he says.

[ U ] I S F O R U N D E R S E R V E D

Lack of health insurance is a grim fact of life for many. Thankfully, health

professionals like Cheryl Ahern-Lehmann, Adult Nurse Practitioner and

Associate Clinical Professor, step in, pro bono. She takes her students to San

Diego’s St. Vincent de Paul clinic, where they provide exams. And every

spring, Ahern-Lehmann and students volunteer at the San DiegoWomen’s

Health Care Fair, where they provide care to homeless and poor women.

She also serves as faculty“ambassador”for the National Health Service

Corps Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships to those interested

in working with the health-care underserved after graduation.

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USD MAGAZINE