From its inception the University Section Club has included a group called "SOS" or Services Offered Students. Members volunteered at Cowell Hospital and the Albany Village nursery school. Emergency loans and grants were given to students in need. In the 40s Mrs. Clark Kerr, wife of the Chancellor, recognized the need and organized the Foreign Student Committee. It has evolved to offer help with housing and to organize an equipment loan center, a weekly meeting group for spouses, a holiday party for children, and home hospitality. An emergency fund for students in need was established as a memorial to Sylvie Elberg in the 80s. In the 90s the Section Club undertook to sponsor a room at the Tang Center (Health) and raised the necessary $50,000 from member donations. Each year special projects, as requested from the Disabled and Re-entry students, Albany Village and the Tang Center, are supported financially. The tradition of offering emergency grants for students, as recommended by University personnel, continues. The annual Beehive luncheon and auction fund these grants as do donations from the members and the general public.

Joan Finnie
September 19, 2003

The SOS (Services Offered Students) Committee is part of the University Section Club, Inc., an organization of faculty wives and UC Berkeley staff which aids deserving students.

The committee was formed to give volunteer support services and financial aid to students in emergency situations and to fund grant proposals from University sponsored services which give direct aid to students. The funds for this aid are administered through the Sylvia Elberg Memorial Fund and the SOS Fund.

The Sylvia Elberg Memorial fund was established to honor the memory of Mrs. Elberg who devoted many hours of her time helping University of California students. Through the generosity of her husband, Professor Sanford S. Elberg, former Dean of the Graduate Division at Berkeley, and other donors, the SOS Committee is able to offer this financial assistance.

Elaine Anderson

April 2008