As people gathered inside Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa, patiently waiting for food distribution to begin, UC Irvine students joined the assembly line of volunteers. They handed each visitor a bundle of produce and nonperishable items, absorbing the snippets of personal stories shared within each brief interaction. The faces began to blur together as people came and went, but the homeless community’s appreciation lingered with each volunteer.

“Irvine and neighboring areas keep a lot of these issues hidden. When you’re walking around, it’s very clean, but homelessness is an issue that occurs everywhere,” says senior Justina Bui. “But the unhoused – they’re people too.”

She and the other students are members of By Any Means, a group launched at UC Irvine in 2017 to help the local community – specifically the unhoused – via services such as soup kitchens, food banks and more. While homelessness is a major global issue, co-President Tristan Tomasyk says, the club aims to inspire students to not be discouraged by such a large undertaking but rather to find ways to contribute to the unhoused community within their means.

“Oftentimes, people feel like they can’t do much. We’re not creating a new policy or something huge, but little steps are still important,” says co-President Bui, a public health sciences major. “At volunteer events, sometimes members get to interact directly with homeless individuals, and they’ll tell us, ‘I’ve never actually talked to someone who was experiencing homelessness. This was really insightful and meaningful.’ I think those experiences – exposing them to the reality of what it’s like and what they can do to help – matter.”

A large part of the club’s mission is volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens to assist with food distribution. Establishing a strong connection with Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach and Orange County Rescue Mission in Tustin, students help prepare and serve easily accessible meals like tacos or pasta to residents at least once every academic quarter. Likewise, in collaboration with organizations such as Mary’s Kitchen Pantry in Anaheim, Community Action Partnership of Orange County in Garden Grove and Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, volunteers pack boxes of produce and nonperishable food for disadvantaged individuals.

Members of By Any Means also assemble hygiene kits, including essentials like wipes and toothpaste as well as extra items like emergency blankets, financed by student fundraising efforts. These are later donated to local nonprofits such as The Hub OC to distribute to those in need.

“Most people don’t expect college students to take time out of their day to do this kind of work. When they see us, they’re always very appreciative that we stopped by,” says Tomasyk, a third-year biological sciences major.

However, By Any Means’ efforts are proactive as well. Weekly, members volunteer at the Save Our Youth Center in Costa Mesa, providing tutoring and mentorship to local high school students from marginalized communities.

“Without having a strong educational foundation or without accessible resources, you’re at risk of continuing the cycle of poverty,” Bui says. “There are different ways to break that, but education is one stable way out.”

While the club is rooted in community service, By Any Means is also dedicated to raising awareness of homelessness via advocacy sessions. During group meetings, members give presentations on topics related to homelessness, educating their peers about circumstances that contribute to unhoused populations. Most recently, these have included the L.A. wildfires and their mass displacement of people.

“There’s usually a notion that [when a person is homeless] it’s their fault or they put themselves in that situation,” Tomasyk says. “But there are so many factors that could lead someone to being homeless. Regardless of the reason, people deserve help.”

In the future, the co-presidents hope to expand By Any Means’ outreach, volunteering beyond Orange County into areas where homelessness is more prevalent, like L.A.’s Skid Row. Their primary goal is to continue to inspire students to contribute to their community in whatever way possible.

“What people can learn,” Bui says, “is that you don’t need to make such a big movement to create a big change. Being a part of By Any Means reminds me that there are still people who care.”