Sarah Wingfield ’17: This holiday season, the EA community has taken up the spirit of giving all around campus thanks to the organization and planning of the Community Outreach Board. During the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony this past Friday, the Community Service Board held a fundraising event referred to as an “alternative gift market.” This new addition will now accompany the annual “Adopt a Child” program within our community during the month of December.
Photo courtesy of Brittany Belo ’14
Held this year on December 6th in the Middle School Study Hall, the new project provides an opportunity to give a gift that keeps on giving. “Our motto for this was ‘Think Outside the Box,'” stated Susan Swanson, director of Community Service. “Our community partners could really benefit from a donation, so we thought this might be a good idea,” she continued. By making a donation in someone else’s name, students, parents, and faculty can offer an alternative form of a gift by helping someone in need. Upon making the donation, each donor receives a card explaining what will be donated and why. With each donation, Episcopal’s community partners (Cosa Cosa, Horizons National, SHARE, St. James School, St. Marc’s, The Seeing Eye, Willistown Conservation Trust, USHC) will be able to purchase something that they specifically need, such as a desk or a teacher’s salary for a year.
This new effort comes as an addition to traditional holiday partnerships with the Norris Square Neighborhood Project (NSNP) for the annual “Adopt a Child” program at EA. This program pairs a needy child with a specific student, faculty member, or group that would like to make a donation by purchasing Christmas presents for children from Kensington, Philadelphia. The toys brought in for the “adopted” child are then given to them by NSNP. “The families that we donate presents to can hardly afford to pay for food, so Christmas gifts aren’t a priority,” indicated Swanson. She also urged the community to remember children of all ages, especially teenagers like ourselves, who would be happy to receive gifts this Christmas.
Swanson and the rest of the Community Service Board hope that the efforts of this Christmas season, as well as those in the future, will have the same kind of support as the Turkey Drive, which they were proud to announce had an all time high in donations this year. Remember each gift provided to these programs can help make a child’s Christmas one to remember.