UP Operations Management Association (OMA) held it’s 2nd annual “Helping Hands” event. Helping Hands is program offered by corporate team building organization Odyssey Teams, Inc. OMA first began participating in this initiative last year, while assisting club advisor Professor Gary Mitchell’s Lake Oswego based robotics team, Team Axis #7187. At the time, OMA frequently partnered and mentored Team Axis. Although Team Axis has recently disbanded, OMA and Professor Mitchell continued the initiative, choosing to invite alumni this year. Professor Mitchell and Professor Naveen Gudigantala joined over 25 students and alumni to build 10 prosthetic hands and cards to be sent along with each one. Club president and senior OTM major Erin Lawyer said, “The event was successful because it is so unique and it’s for a great cause. We have much higher attendance and participation at this event than our others. Every participant feels like they’ve accomplished something and have helped improve someone’s standard of living, that’s a great feeling which helps the growth of the event as people encourage others to get involved.” Professor Mitchell and OMA plan on continuing this annual initiative.
