Area Nonprofits Benefit from HCC’s 24th Giving Tree Campaign
HOLYOKE — For the 24th year, Holyoke Community College (HCC) students, staff, and faculty collected hundreds of holiday gifts for consumers at local agencies through its annual Giving Tree campaign.
On Dec. 17, representatives from the five groups — Homework House, the Massachusetts Veterans Home at Holyoke (formerly the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home), Access Care Partners (formerly WestMass ElderCare), the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC), and the Itsy Bitsy Child Watch Center at HCC — attended a closing celebration where 320 gifts were distributed.
“This is a community of caring and giving folks, and that’s not just words, but deeds and actions,” HCC President George Timmons said. “This community shows up for one another, and it really does make a difference.”
Each year during the annual campaign, Giving Trees are set up in designated areas around campus. Participants choose tags from one of the nonprofit agencies based on the age of the recipient and their wish for a gift. The wrapped gifts are then piled on tables for the closing celebration, when HCC faculty, staff, and students join with representatives from the agencies to share food and stories.
“Home has always been part of our title,” said Colleen Strunk-Ackerly, volunteer coordinator for the Veterans’ Home. “With community partners like you, we’re able to provide that home-like environment for our veterans with nice things like a comfortable pair of pajamas or a nice, warm blanket. There’s nothing better, especially during the holidays.”
Even though the holidays can be a joyful time, the season can put added pressure on parents who can’t afford to buy gifts, but still want their children to experience a “sense of magic and normalcy,” said Nancy Ritz, regional director of Prevention Programs at MSPCC. “Your gifts send a powerful message to parents: you are not alone. And to children: you matter. Someone thought of you.”
This year, the Giving Tree committee added the college’s Itsy Bitsy Child Watch program to the list of beneficiaries. The center, a free program for HCC student parents, includes a clothing donation closet, where students can drop in and select used items for their children.
“These personal, individual gifts that the college community has provided are going to be even more meaningful,” said Kimm Quinlan, director of Early Childhood Initiatives at HCC. “It’s hard being a student. It’s hard work being a parent, and when you put the two of them together, it’s even harder, so I know how much our families are going to appreciate these gifts.”
Michelle Vigneault agreed. “I am so honored to be chairperson of this committee that really shows how much the HCC community cares. This is it in a big way,” she said, before relating a personal story through tears. “As a child, I was the recipient of a similar campaign, Toys for Tots, and it was the best gift I ever got in my whole childhood. And it matters. It matters to children. It matters to families, and it matters to our elderly and our veterans and the whole community.”