Leadership Program Student Jesus “Armando” Machado ’21 Works With Oakland Nonprofit

by Melanie Moyer '22, College Communications Student-Writer | May 7, 2021

Saint Mary’s BA in Leadership & Organizational Studies (BALOS) Program, a degree completion program through the Kalmanovitz School of Education designed for working adults, allows them to incorporate practical and immersive experiences into a flexible education. Three BALOS students, Cecilia “Ceci” Gomez ’21, Alex Mitkovikj ’21, and Jesus “Armando” Machado ’21, overcame limitations brought on by the pandemic to raise funds and volunteer with the Mercy Brown Bag Program, a local nonprofit dedicated to serving seniors in need. Their work has gone beyond the classroom as they continue to address the needs of the nonprofit after their project.

“The Mercy Brown Bag Program is a local Oakland nonprofit organization that provides bi-weekly grocery bags to qualifying low-income seniors in Alameda County and its surrounding areas,” said Machado. “In addition, seniors volunteer to put the grocery bags together, which allows them to stay active and social in the community while helping those seniors in need. Mercy Brown Bag has lovingly filled and distributed bags of fresh produce, healthy grains, canned goods, and lean proteins for over 34 years, and many seniors rely on the program for their food needs.”

The students began a fundraising program to help the project and then decided to volunteer to help as well. Mercy Brown Bag partners with Meals on Wheels, Uber, and volunteers to get food to in-need seniors. The more the students learned, the more they wanted to help.

“The recent project started as a class assignment that evolved into volunteer work and a GoFundMe campaign.,” said Machado. “The GoFundMe campaign was our way to give back to the local community by helping to raise enough funds to provide 250 bags of groceries to low-income seniors, our most vulnerable population.”

To access the GoFundMe for the Mercy Brown Bag Project started by the students, follow this link.

For more information regarding the BALOS program, see their website.