“We're really excited because last year we only had 750 stockings,” said Megan Kraft, a senior psychology major from Port Huron, Mich., who is the chair of Carolina Cares. The student service group organized the holiday drive and promoted the charity donations around campus.

“We increased dramatically from last year, and we had even more students who came and asked for stockings,” Kraft said. “But we ran out and so did the Salvation Army. This was a really great response.”

As they have on Wednesdays throughout November, students will be ringing bells and taking collections for the Salvation Army along the Pickens Street overpass and on Greene Street in front of Russell House.

The holiday drive culminated Nov. 30 with the 51st-annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Horseshoe.

Here’s a roundup of how USC Columbia and other campuses are helping and celebrating this holiday season.


“USC Sumter’s Student Life Office sponsored a float in the 2005 Sumter Christmas Parade. Constructed and decorated by students, the float featured a cozy fireplace and Christmas tree vignette reflecting the theme of this year’s parade, ‘Home for the Holidays.’ The Association of African-American Students (AAAS) is sponsoring several very needy children by providing them with warm clothing and other gift items. Thanks to the efforts of the AAAS members, these children will have a happy Christmas.”
—Tom Prewett, director, public relations, USC Sumter


“Our division (Regional Campuses and Continuing Education) is adopting a family in WIS-TV’s Families Helping Families Program. Our office will provide clothing, toys, gift cards, and other things on our family’s list and also will collect money to purchase food or a gift certificate from a grocery store, even though that’s not on the list. For entertainment, we’ll go out to lunch at a restaurant and come back to take part in a gift exchange. Everyone on the staff brings a token gift and then draws numbers to see who will get to pick a gift. If somebody else wants your gift when their number comes up, they can take it, and then the first person can open another gift, but a gift can only be taken twice. You never know if the gift you open will be the gift you end up with. It’s fun. We decorate our main work area with a wreath and a small tree, and staff members bring in some kind of goodies on each day leading up to Dec. 21, when we leave for the holidays. We also decorate our office doors with seasonal doorknockers and put a decorative covering over doorknobs. We also send a holiday newsletter and card to all of the middle- and high-school students who attended the University’s Carolina Master Scholars Program over the last three years. We have more than 280 students in that database. They get the first look at the summer 2006 schedule and can pre-register if they want to come back next summer.”
—Cynthia Steele, director, Academic Enrichment and Conferences


“The Mary Black School of Nursing instructors at USC Upstate will once again set up a Victorian nursing vignette in the ‘Dickens of a Christmas’ event in downtown Spartanburg. Our window will be at Bishop's Furniture Store. We will be representing nursing in Victorian times. Participants are Mary Lou Hodge, Pat Clary, Charlotte Koehler, Angie Davis, Karen Peel, Susan Ludwick, Debbie Wilson, Heather Arthur, Tammy Gilliam, and myself.”
—Barbara McCracken, Mary Black School of Nursing, USC Upstate


“Our office plans to serve cookies and invite students to come by for an end-of-the-semester treat and farewell. We have 102 countries represented by international students at USC. They celebrate a lot of different cultural traditions, so we tend to observe the end of the fall semester with a warm greeting and snacks, but don’t decorate for a specific holiday. Our seasonal outreach effort was to promote a fund-raising project at 10,000 Villages, a new store in the Forest Park Shopping Center in Columbia, which sells fair trade handicrafts from around the world. We distributed information and got the word out about a special day at the store on Nov. 27 during which USC international students were there to talk about their countries. Half of the shop’s proceeds on that day went to the Columbia Council for Internationals, a support organization for international students at USC. The nonprofit store is one of many operated by the Lutheran Church nationally that sells hand-crafted retail goods, and it’s a great place to go for Christmas shopping. We appreciate their support for USC’s international students.”
—Patricia P. Willer, director, International Programs For Students


“Twenty-eight of us in Advancement Administration and University Development have teamed up to sponsor a family through the Nurturing Center. Project Holiday Joy assists local families who are in need of assistance to provide a special Christmas to moms, dads, and children. We have been assigned a family of five (Mom, Dad, and three girls), and we’re going to purchase a multitude of items that the children requested, such as sheets, crayons, construction paper, markers, hair bows, and books. The mother and father requested gift certificates for bookstores and The State newspaper. Our plan is also to provide them with a gift certificate to a grocery store, as well.”
—Lola Mauer, Annual Giving

“USC Upstate Athletics sponsored a canned food drive to help benefit the Miracle Hill Downtown Rescue Mission in Spartanburg. Donations were accepted during a home basketball doubleheader when the women’s team took on Newberry and the men’s team played Limestone. Faculty and staff members who donated four or more canned food products received free admission to the UNC Pembroke game for family or friends.”
—Bill English, assistant athletic director for Sports Information, USC Upstate


“The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and University 101 has had a 10-year tradition of adopting a family for the holidays with the Families Helping Families project. The Families Helping Families Project is sponsored by Palmetto Project and WIS television. The Families Helping Families program is a partnership bringing together the generosity of local families, churches, businesses, and community groups to help area families in need who may not have the finances to provide gifts, toys, or other items to children and adults. All families participating in this program are qualified for assistance from and represented by established social service agencies in both the Lowcountry and the Midlands.
“Our office collects donations, shops for, and wraps gifts for the family we are assigned—we usually adopt a family of four. In the past, we have collected as much as $425. We are always able to buy the kids and the mother so much more than they have asked for.”
—Nina L. Glisson, conference coordinator, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition


“Students, faculty, and staff are gearing up at USC Upstate to provide gifts this holiday season to children in need. The campus held its annual Angel Tree Lighting on November 9 in the first floor lobby of the Campus Life Center. The Angel Tree, sponsored by the student community service organization IMPACT and the Department of Social Services, gets the entire campus involved in spreading holiday cheer to area children who are served by the Department of Social Services and may otherwise not receive gifts for Christmas. Taking part of the Angel Tree project has become a tradition for many on campus. Student groups, individuals, and departments line up to adopt an angel for the holidays and then cheerfully go shopping to fulfill the children’s wish lists. Many campus departments choose to provide gifts for the Angel Tree instead of exchanging gifts among each other. This is just the perfect opportunity for USC Upstate to make a difference in the lives of children in our community. Everyone on campus, from the student organizations to faculty members to administrators to even the children who attend our child development center, make a positive contribution to this project. It’s a very uplifting campuswide activity that is eagerly anticipated every year.”
—Adrienne Middleton, assistant director of student life, USC Upstate


“The USC Salkehatchie Education Majors Club completed a canned food drive Nov. 18 for Thanksgiving, and the Student Government Association is collecting toys for the United Way/Toys for Tots program through Dec. 20. The Student Government Association and the Campus Faith Fellowship are volunteering and have enlisted faculty and staff to volunteer in the Salvation Army Kettle Drive. The Student Government Association also is entering floats in the Allendale, Barnwell, and Walterboro Christmas parades. USC Salkehatchie professors of music Janet Dubois and William Campbell presented a program on the history of the Christmas carol at the Allendale/Hampton Hospice Festival of Trees Dec. 2.”
—Jane Brewer, associate dean, student services, USC Salkehatchie


“I am team-teaching a University 101 class with Dominique Hemphill, and part of our students community service is to bring canned goods so we can donate them to the local HOPE organization. Also we are having a faculty/staff Christmas party Dec. 9.”
—Shana Funderburk, public information officer, USC Lancaster


“Our Children’s Center is holding a supplies drive for the Cumbee Center to Assist Abused Persons (CAAP). CAAP is a United Way agency in Aiken that offers shelter and programs for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Some of the items being collected are children’s videos, household items, and toiletries. The Children’s Center staff is also holding a Teddy Bear drive for the children at the Cumbee Center. The Advancement Office, which includes marketing and community relations, alumni affairs, development, and conferences and continuing education, is taking part in a Secret Santa program in which we adopt needy children for the holidays by purchasing Christmas gifts for them.”
—Kendall Tubbs, coordinator of public information and events, USC Aiken

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