CONTACT: Joyce Stone, 806-651-2062, jstone@wtamu.edu; Dr. Matt Jackson, 806-651-5258, mjackson@wtamu.edu; Eric Sosa, 806-651-2724, esosa@wtamu.edu
COPY BY: Brittany Castillo, 806-651-2682, bcastillo@wtamu.edu
CANYON, Texas—As the spring semester approaches, students and their advisers at West Texas A&M University wrap up another season of giving on campus for local communities in need.
The division of student enrollment, engagement and success participated in the Angel Tree program conducted by the Salvation Army, the new College of Engineering refurbished bikes for donation to local children’s homes, and student success coordinators spearheaded a coat drive to warm those on campus.
The Angel Tree program, a seasonal endeavor by the Salvation Army, occurred at WT for the second time this year. People on campus were able to “adopt” a paper angel ornament from a Christmas tree of a participating organization and provide necessities to children based off the needs description printed on the ornament. With five champions made up of advisory staff members on campus, the amount of adopted angels more than doubled from last year with a total of 50. Adoption began late November and all items were delivered before Christmas.
WT’s engineering and computer science programs coordinated efforts to refurbish bikes collected across campus to donate to kids in facilities including High Plains Children’s Home and Family Services and Amarillo Children’s Home. About 15 students partnered with 5 community volunteers Dec. 3 to replace chains and tubes as well as make minor repairs on bikes specific to a child’s size and preference. A total of 23 bikes were gifted to children.
For the first time, a coat drive was conducted by people on campus for people on campus. More than 200 items including coats, hoodies, sweatshirts, hats and gloves were donated by faculty, staff and students for students and their families. The WT student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management provided racks, hangers and storage space, so students could come to the giveaway to shop for themselves and others. About 50 students came to pick up a couple extra layers, and the items left over were donated to Family Support Services in Amarillo.
For more information about these projects or other philanthropic initiatives on campus, please refer to the contact information above: Joyce Stone – Angel Christmas Tree, Dr. Matt Jackson – bike refurbishments, or Eric Sosa – on-campus coat drive.
—WTAMU—