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Christmas came just a little early for families in Crowder College’s “Giving Tree” program.
“We’ve got 25 families that we adopted and they are all Crowder students,” said Mark Aubuchon, campus life coordinator.
Children’s Christmas wishes were printed on angels and hung on the tree. Crowder staff and students picked up the angels, bought gifts and brought them back in. On Saturday, the gifts were wrapped and a few extra items purchased to make sure everyone had enough. By Monday morning, everything was wrapped and sorted and ready for pick up and food baskets lined the walls of the fireside room.
Several new bikes sat near the doorway with bows tied to the front and a bagged helmet hanging from the handlebars. Four children, ages 6 to 11, in one of the families had wished for bikes. Their mother gasped when she arrived to pick up the basket and found all four had their wish.
When the applications began coming in, the campus life department kicked in by shooting off e-mails across campus. Student government helped raise funds, departments chipped in and there were personal donations. One recipient from years past came back and adopted someone else. A staff member adopted a child and bought a bike, then waited until his next paycheck and bought another. Some faculty members adopted more than one child.
They raised three times the amount they had for the program last Christmas.
“We could not be happier with the turn out,” Aubuchon said.
Christmas came just a little early for families in Crowder College’s “Giving Tree” program.
“We’ve got 25 families that we adopted and they are all Crowder students,” said Mark Aubuchon, campus life coordinator.
Children’s Christmas wishes were printed on angels and hung on the tree. Crowder staff and students picked up the angels, bought gifts and brought them back in. On Saturday, the gifts were wrapped and a few extra items purchased to make sure everyone had enough. By Monday morning, everything was wrapped and sorted and ready for pick up and food baskets lined the walls of the fireside room.
Several new bikes sat near the doorway with bows tied to the front and a bagged helmet hanging from the handlebars. Four children, ages 6 to 11, in one of the families had wished for bikes. Their mother gasped when she arrived to pick up the basket and found all four had their wish.
When the applications began coming in, the campus life department kicked in by shooting off e-mails across campus. Student government helped raise funds, departments chipped in and there were personal donations. One recipient from years past came back and adopted someone else. A staff member adopted a child and bought a bike, then waited until his next paycheck and bought another. Some faculty members adopted more than one child.
They raised three times the amount they had for the program last Christmas.
“We could not be happier with the turn out,” Aubuchon said.
