Of all the hardships of homelessness, living day in and day out with cold, wet feet was the problem that most surprised Jo Marie Tran Janco when she began volunteering in 2001 with UCLA’s Mobile Clinic Project.

Then a UCLA freshman, Janco peeled the tattered shoes and soiled, soggy socks off the feet of the clinic’s clientele to find all kinds of painful and malodorous fungus and scales. Particularly debilitating colds soon followed, found the 21-year-old who now dreams of becoming a doctor.

“A cold on the streets is a lot different from a cold when you get to climb into bed with chicken soup,� said the Irvine, Calif., native. “When you’re sick and having trouble walking, it’s that much harder to get to the food line, look for work and take a shower. Difficulties that already seem overwhelming just get compounded.�

That recognition inspired Janco to secure a steady supply of fresh socks for all the homeless people who flock to the clinic for free health care at the hands of UCLA medical students and free social services at the hands of UCLA undergraduates and UCLA graduate students in public health.

By last winter, Janco had expanded her efforts to insulate the homeless denizens of a particularly tough part of Hollywood. With $1,100 in funds from student fees and proceeds from clothing drives in campus dorms, she assembled Winter Awareness/Survival Kits, each consisting of a blanket, poncho, hat, gloves and two pairs of socks.

With 22 fellow UCLA undergraduates, the English and neuroscience student distributed close to 40 winter survival kits during November and December.

These activities helped the junior win UCLA’s 2003 Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award, the highest honor given by the university for community service. Along with two other UCLA undergraduates, Janco received the award in a May 22 ceremony on campus.


Janco plans to dedicate the award’s $500 prize to replacing some of the UCLA Mobile Clinic’s medical equipment and possibly instituting immunizations against hepatitis B, a potentially fatal form of hepatitis.

“Jo Marie is the backbone of the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project, and without her dedication the clinic would not be as successful as it is currently,� said Heather Long, a second-year graduate student in public health who served last year as one of the project’s six student coordinators. “Her calm demeanor and intense interest in the overall health and well-being of clients is inspirational.�

Janco, who is also one of the clinic’s six student coordinators, ascribes her dedication to a community service ethos instilled by her parents, an Irvine computer consultant and an electrical engineer.

“I’m getting a great education and, by most of the world’s standards, I’m healthy and I’m wealthy,� said Janco, who also serves as treasurer to the organization with a $10,000 annual budget. “My parents taught me that when you’ve been given things, part of your responsibility is to give back, so I feel a real obligation to help.�

Family hardships also played a role. Janco’s native Vietnamese mother, Khanh Tran, fled Saigon after its fall in 1975 with Khanh Tran’s parents, a former hospital administrator and bakery operator. Once well-to-do, the family lived in a refugee camp until settling in Connecticut, where they rebuilt their lives from scratch with the help of an American church.

“From my family’s experience, I know that it’s easy to slide from one level of well-being and affluence to another,� Janco said. “My heart just goes out to people in social and economic freefall because my mother and grandparents have explained how demoralizing the experience can be.�

Janco’s care packages may have brought her attention, but her efforts are even more hands-on. The junior returns every Wednesday night to Hollywood, where she crouches on the sidewalk in front of three to four homeless people to bathe their feet with baby wipes, clip their toenails and apply antifungal cream or spray.

“People wonder how can I stand to do it,� Janco said. “But I enjoy what I’m doing. I’m reminded of everything that’s good in my life and of how much still has to be done in the community. That just makes me want to work harder.�

Besides, she views taking feet in hand as a valuable part of the social services offered by the clinic, which is unusual in providing social services alongside basic medical care.

“It’s such a basic thing but people really appreciate having someone care enough about them to wash their feet,� she said. “It’s therapeutic and it’s nice for them to receive a gesture of compassion and caring.�


The interaction also tends to break down reluctance to ask for help, she has found. “The more they trust the clinic, the more willing our clients are to share their problems,� she said.

These problems are never far from Janco’s mind. Even though freezing temperatures are months away, she is already planning to apply for $1,500 from the UCLA Community Service Mini Fund, a student-supported source of funding for philanthropic activities that paid for last year’s winter survival kits. With the additional $400, Janco figures her team could assemble 55 to 60 care packages — 15 to 20 more than last year.

“While there are cold weather shelters to aid survival through the winter and wet season, space is not nearly adequate to meet the need,� she said. “Funding restrictions hinder other service providers from just giving out blankets and other forms of protection against the elements. So if we don’t fill this need, nobody will.�

In the meantime, Janco is gearing up to hit the streets with the summertime equivalent of her winter care packages — kits designed to help the homeless better weather the Southland’s blistering summers. Introduced last year, the summer care packages feature lip balm, sunscreen, hats, socks and, if available, shoes.

The seasonal care packages supplement hygiene kits that Janco also helps assemble. They feature shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, soap, combs and multivitamins purchased at discount stores.

In all, Janco estimates that she spends up to 40 hours a month on clinic activities. Yet for all these efforts, she acts as though she’s the one who has received help.

“You learn so much about yourself, what you’re willing to do and capable of doing,� she said. “Working with the clinic has really solidified my intention of going to medical school and my desire to work with the poor and underserved. Everyone deserves a chance to get decent health care.�