Alumni plan for the year

The Cal Sate Long Beach Alumni Association board of directors addressed the issue of hunger among poor people and some fund-raising ideas Tuesday at the first of six meetings scheduled for the school year.

President elect Jeff Pratto said a food drive is scheduled for Sept. 30 at the Ralph's supermarket on Seventh Street in Long Beach. Alumni will be volunteering from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"Store patrons will be handed a small flyer by alumni as they enter the store," Pratto said. The flyer will explain the purpose and ask shoppers to buy an extra item or two.

Gay Arakawa, director of alumni relations, said the food will be given to Food Finders, an organization used to distribute food to people who need it.

"We wanted to sponsor our drive in September because of all the other food drives occurring near the holidays in November and December," she said.

Karl Anatol, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs, also addressed the board Wednesday. Anatol discussed ongoing plans with the new Media Center, scheduled to occupy new facilities in the North Campus Library.

"Cal State Long Beach will be a technological leader in the media field," he said.

The Media Center, which is planned for installation next semester, is proposed to be the latest in electronic library technology, said Charles Schneebeck, the center's director.

The board also discussed the status of the proposed Alumni Brickwalk.

The Alumni Brickwalk is a plan to sell bricks to Cal State Long Beach alumni for $100 each. The bricks would then be placed on the terrace level in front of the University Student Union on Lower Campus, Arakawa said.

The idea for the plan, which was proposed by Pratto, came from a Cal Poly Pomona project by the same name. Cal Poly Pomona has more than 800 bricks in its one-year-old brick walk.

"We plan to mail fliers along with the alumni newsletter to 20,000 alumni early next spring," Pratto said. "It will be like free press."