SIFE Helps Homeless

MALIBU – This spring SIFE will continue to help the community by using their business skills. Recently, SIFE has teamed up with PATH Los Angeles to help educate the homeless on financial literacy.

PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) is a full-service homeless agency, providing transitional housing and employment assistance.  Each week, SIFE will send a group of students to PATH to hold financial literacy seminars for participants in the PATHFinders program. The seminars will cover everything from budgeting to setting up a bank account.

SIFE’s seminars will work to fill an unfortunate gap in the Los Angeles area, as many homeless programs are only focused on job preparation. Creating a basis of financial literacy within the PATHFinder participants will likely lead to a brighter, and more stable future.

To get involved with this project contact stacey.gallarde@pepperdine.edu.

SIFE Helps FIRST Robotics

MALIBU—On November 3^rd, Pepperdine SIFE held four seminars on fundraising and financial planning at a FIRST Robotics event at California State University, Northridge.  This marks SIFE’s third consecutive year helping high school teams involved with FIRST.

FIRST Robotics is an organization aimed at inspiring high school students to become leaders in the science and technology world.  Each year, teams design and build robots during using a common set of parts and with certain tasks in mind. As team budgets rely on fundraising and obtaining sponsorships, Pepperdine SIFE finds this the perfect opportunity to contribute their knowledge regarding financial planning and management.

During SIFE’s hour-long seminars they taught the teams money saving tips, as well as provided them with tools to track their expenses.  SIFE member and Director of Human Resources, Gabriel Johnson notes, “They already do a great job fundraising, but they don’t know how to manage the money that comes in. That’s where SIFE steps in.”  SIFE’s presence at FIRST Robotics events is greatly appreciated as many team advisors make it a priority to attend their seminars.  

SIFE Students to Improve Mexican Economy

MALIBU — Over the past three months Pepperdine SIFE students Gabriel Johnson and Erica Edgerson having been working with five Pepperdine students to coordinate a global outreach to La Quemada, Mexico where the students will help in the entrepreneurial develop of a water store to rebuild the community’s economy.

The local economy of La Quemada has failed to provide jobs for many of its adult males.  In order for these males to provide for their families, they have come to the United States to work and send their earnings back home.  Pepperdine students Gabriel Johnson, Erica Edgerson, Andrew Smith, Lauren Hartley, Elizabeth Froeberg, and Jackie Belue will be working with Virginia Thomas–who recently completed her undergraduate work at Pepperdine–and others from the Texas-based global outreach organization Business Without Borders to help bring jobs to the community with this new water store.

The trip will also be an educational journey for the students as they learn how they can incorporate their Christian faith and entrepreneurial spirit under a new ministry model called Business as Mission (BAM).  It is the goal of Business Without Borders that the profits from the water store be used to fund Christian ministry in the community.  Throughout the 10-day journey, the students will be participating in daily training sessions provided by Business Without Borders where they will learn more about BAM.  It is the hope of the participating students to bring the vision of BAM back to the Pepperdine campus to educate more students about this exciting new form of ministry.

Pepperdine SIFE Team Wins at Regional Competition

MALIBU – The Pepperdine University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team returned to Malibu as first-place winners after participating in the Los Angeles SIFE USA Regional Competition on March 21, 2007. The event was one of 17 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the United States in March and April. As a Regional Champion, Pepperdine SIFE next competes in the SIFE National Exposition in Dallas, Texas on May 6 through 8.

During this academic year, the Pepperdine SIFE team organized 10 educational outreach projects effecting 500 community members and contributed over 1,100 hours.

Division Chair and Sam Walton Fellow (SIFE’s term for team advisor) L. Keith Whitney noted, “I am particularly proud of this our SIFE Team. SIFE President Gabriel Johnson, a junior business major from San Diego, California, provided extraordinary leadership throughout the year. Judges spent most of the question and answer period expressing praise for the Team. The SIFE Team emphasized servant leadership, something they also embodied. I wish the entire Pepperdine family could have witnessed their presentations. The young women and men represented all of us very well indeed!”

Pepperdine University’s SIFE Team is actually comprised of more than just the presentation team. The SIFE Team members who competed at the L.A. Regional Competition were Gabriel Johnson, Erica Edgerson, Joshua Fadley, Man on Li, Linnco Ho, and Sarah Scherff.

John Bogle Speech Now Available Online

If you missed John Bogle’s speech at Pepperdine University on Tuesday, March 26th you can now view it online.  Click here