The Be A Man at USC organization hosted Assistant Athletic Director Charles Bloom as a guest lecturer Tuesday night to speak about his experience volunteering and empower students to reach out and help the community. The night’s theme was “Be A Volunteer.”
“There are people that need help and if you are able to help then you should help,” Bloom said. “We need to make the world a better place.”
Before coming to USC to work with the athletic department, Bloom worked as the Southeastern Conference Associate Commissioner. He said his main goal as Assistant Athletic Director is to create memories for families who attend sporting event at USC.
“We care about more than just wins and losses,” he said.
Bloom grew up in Emporia, Va. and later graduated from USC as a Public Relations major in 1985.
Bloom also spoke about the community service he was involved in over the years, such as the United Way, Men’s Club and Uplifting Athletes.
To say that Bloom has been active in community service would be an understatement.
As community chair of the Loaned Executive Division of the United Way, Bloom has used his position as Assistant Athletic Director to help spread the word about community service and fundraisers to help raise money for an organization called Curing Kids Cancer.
He also served as president of the Men’s Club at his synagogue and was president of the USC chapter of the Public Relation Society of America. Bloom also worked with Uplifting Athletes to raise money for research for finding a cure to rare diseases.
Bloom said that the two most important words he wanted to leave with were “opportunity” and “compete”. He encouraged students to build up their resume, and to try to get involved in as much as possible.
“Volunteerism and community service makes a community stronger,” he said. “You don’t have to give to charities but people do out of the goodness of their hearts.”