Students unite to spread holiday spirit of giving

It's that time of the year. Christmas lights sprinkle the town. Rosy-cheeked shoppers buy gifts for friends and families. Children walk starry-eyed through overflowing toy stores. \nBut not all of those children will get what they want for Christmas. Some of them don't even get what they need.\nIn fact, over 300 children in the local area are in need.\nHowever there is hope, thanks to the Volunteer Students Bureau, IUSA, Sigma Chi and Phi Beta Sigma. These groups have collaborated to organize a program to help these needy children called "Children's Holiday Wish Program."\nSonya Lucki, director of Community Relations for the Volunteer Students Bureau, said through this program, organizations or individuals can "adopt" a child for the holidays to buy them gifts and other things they might need.\n"The kids are always amazed," Lucki said. \nThe VSB has done this type of program in the past and has always found it to be a good way for people to help out. \nThe list of needy children comes from the Child Protection Services and the Boys and Girls Club. The gifts will be presented at a Christmas party held at 4 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Boys and Girls Club.\nThe last day the VSB will be taking calls to sponsor children this Friday, Dec. 13. Gifts are due in the VSB office (Room 378 in the Union) by noon Dec. 18. Sponsors are asked to spend at least $15 to $30 per child. \nNatalia Galvan with the VSB said gifts for children are usually a mix of needs and wants.\n"It's good to have something fun but also something essential because many of the kids we have this year are very poor," Galvan said.\nYves Niyikiza, the social chair for the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, actually stumbled upon this opportunity by accident and immediately thought it was a great idea. He offered to help the VSB with the structure of the program to make it more successful.\n"I really wanted to help with the setup, and I wanted to get the Greeks involved," Niyikiza said. "A lot of people want to help around the holidays, and we're all trying to achieve the same thing."\nFreshman Kate Ebert and a group of friends from her floor have decided to adopt a child through this program. The friends became really close this year and decided this would be a fun way to spend the holidays.\n"Since money is tight and it's our first Christmas together, we thought it'd be good to spend time together helping someone else," Ebert said.\nThe girls are excited because they get to shop for toys and clothes for the little boy they are adopting.\n"We thought it'd be a lot better than getting each other gifts," Ebert said. "That way we can use our money to help a kid who needs a lot more than we do."\nGeoff Sabin, a member of the IUSA, said it has helped the program by providing funding for advertisements in the newspapers as well as helping to fund the party.\n"Our main objective is to help needy kids," Sabin said. "We want to help in any way possible."\nNiyikiza said this year's program is a small step in the process. Eventually it will be a large, yearly program. \nSeveral of his ideas include letting sponsors meet and interact with kids as well as a Christmas party where there would be a tree with all of the children's presents underneath, a Santa Claus and a Christmas dinner provided for them. \nHe also wants to challenge everyone to get involved by creating a competition between fraternity/sorority pairs, creating social pressure on companies, challenging different departments on campus and even encouraging competitions on different floors of the dorms.\n"We're going step by step now, but gradually, we'll get there," Niyikiza said. "If we all work together, we can set a great example."\nThe IUSA, Phi Beta Sigma and Sigma Chi have all helped fund the program through advertising, promotion and newspaper ads.\nRight now, a little over 50 children have been adopted through this program.\n"They're so appreciative of these gifts because they have never had this before," Lucki said. "They love it"