The holidays are approaching, and thankfully, most Upper Arlington students are fortunate enough to have a family to spend time and exchange gifts with. However, some other families are not as blessed. With the upcoming celebrations, generosity is more important than ever. Here are a few ways UA is giving back this season.
Every year, the Class Officers organize a toy drive to help less fortunate children receive presents. This year, senior Hana Moussad is in charge.
“What we decided to do is a kind of contest with all the homerooms. The homeroom that brings the most gifts gets a prize. The overall message is to remember how lucky we are and how, with the resources we have, we can provide for other people during the holiday season,” Moussad said.
The drive will be held until Friday, Dec. 12, for children aged 0 to twelve. Toys must be boxed and unused. Some ideas for students to bring include stuffed animals, sports equipment, books, etc. This year, the prize is an “elementary style” class holiday party complete with cookies, decorations and games.
“I genuinely hope and believe that during the holidays, when we’re all connected with our family, we all realize how lucky we are to have the lives that we have. I’m thankful to have my life, and I hope other students here are too, simply because of the building we’re in, the resources we have and the opportunity to reflect on that. Yes, we’re gonna hopefully be doing a good amount of collecting, but the prize is mostly just about reflecting on how lucky we are,” Moussad said. “I think my hope would be if every student brought one thing, we would make a lot of people happy. Even if every homeroom brought five things.”
Donating does not have to be a substantial financial commitment; any contribution would be appreciated.
“They can be tiny things. You can buy multiple items of one small thing at many different places, like the Dollar Store, which has a wide selection, and that’s completely fine. I’m not telling you to go and buy expensive things. It’s all about gift giving in the holiday season,” Moussad said.
All donations received will be gifted to the Firefighters 4 Kids program, which has been helping children for 48 years. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Upper Arlington’s Reed Road Fire Department. Other locations participating in the same drive include the Worthington Fire Department, the New Albany (Plain City) Fire Department and the Dublin Fire Department. If you miss the Dec. 13 date, you can drop off toys at any Franklin County Fire Department through Christmas Day.
The Class Officer toy drive is not the only toy drive happening at the high school, though. UA Rise also hosts its own annual event, presenting gifts to teenagers led by UA Rise coordinator Karen Deramo. Junior Rory Gagan works at UA Rise and assists with the annual fundraiser.
“Every drink you buy of one of the specials is $6, so $1 gets donated. And then with the toys, we collect them and we donate them. Every toy that you donate, you get a coupon for a free drink at UA Rise,” Gagan said.
There are five special holiday drinks this year: the Peppermint Mocha (available in hot, iced or frozen), the White Christmas (a hot drink), the Raspberry Thumbprint (frozen), the Kiss Cookie and the Grinch Fizz (both iced).
“[UA Rise is] open first, fourth and fifth period, and then sixth is a work period. So whoever works during the sixth typically has the most setting up to do. Students in those periods will typically work on making a drink, and then we all vote for what we think is the best, and that’s the ones we sell for the fundraiser,” Gagan said.
The money from the drinks and the gifts provided goes to the Home for Families organization.
“Deramo is in contact with Home for Families, and they just let her know every year what they’re trying to get, like their wishlist. We’ll set up the Christmas tree, put out gift boxes, all that kind of stuff. It’s kind of like an angel tree. It has little coffee cups with things that we’re looking for, like blankets, hoodies or journals, etc.,” Gagan said.
Toy drives are not the only way to provide gifts for families in need. Angel Trees are a gift-giving program usually led by The Salvation Army, where donors can purchase gifts, both wants and needs, to fulfill holiday wishes for families and children. There are numerous locations to pick up an Angel Tree gift tag, including Walmart, Bruegger’s Bagels, specific community centers, Storyline Bookshop and The Salvation Army itself.
Whether donations come from a toy drive at the high school or through Angel Tree programs around UA, the message of kindness and generosity remains clear. No matter how big or how small a gift may be, giving back in itself is what spreads holiday spirit and cheer.
