The College at Brockport Lends a Holiday Helping Hand

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L to R: Students Kimberly Gibson and Paul Giglio wrap gifts.

BROCKPORT, NY (12/17/2008)(readMedia)-- The College at Brockport, State University of New York, is making the holidays a bit brighter for local families again this holiday season through its annual Holiday Helping Hand campaign. Holiday Helping Hand provides families in need who might not otherwise be able to celebrate the holiday season or make ends meet without the generous donations by faculty, staff, and students at the College. Academic departments, residence halls, and offices across campus worked together to fulfill the wishes of 22 families in the Village of Brockport and from the surrounding area, including 89 family members and 57 children.

Holiday Helping Hand started out as an initiative in 1985 by Jackie Thomas, a secretary in the Department of Dance, when she served as chair of the College Office Support Advisory Committee. The program has grown over the years into a campus-wide initiative, spearheaded by a committee of six. This year, the committee consisted of Dorothy Ballard, secretary in the Department of Educational Administration; Edwina Billings, coordinator of Computer Skills and Testing Assessments Program; Betty Drennen, executive administrative assistant with the College's auxiliary services agency, Brockport Auxiliary Service Corporation; Joshua Fegley, health promotions coordinator; Amy Kruppenbacher, assistant to the director of residential life; and Thomas.

Families chosen for Holiday Helping Hand are referred to the committee by social workers in the Brockport and Holley Central School Districts, the Brockport Child Care Center, and other local agencies. Families provide the committee with a list of "needs," such as clothing and food items, as well as a list of "wants," which are luxury items that the family would enjoy.

A number of events take place throughout the late fall that involve the entire campus, beginning with actives that encourage students, staff, and faculty to donate gifts to the families. Then a sorting party in the College's Seymour College Union Ballroom welcomes volunteers who help sort and organize the gifts in preparation for the wrapping party the following day. The wrapping party includes volunteers who help wrap the gifts and prepare them for delivery. Then volunteer shoppers head to Wegman's to purchase food and other last-minute items before making deliveries to the families.

The College community donated gifts, gift cards, and baskets and baskets of food items, totaling more than $10,000. As volunteers delivered the holiday gifts to this year's families, they received an emotional outpouring of thanks and witnessed tears of happiness, especially by parents who were now able to provide their children with a happy holiday. "This will be the best Christmas my children will ever have," remarked one joyous parent.