At UTM, to give is to receive holiday joy
’Tis the season to be charitable—and faculty, staff and students at UTM are all taking part in making the holidays more comfortable for those who are hungry or not rich in material goods.
At the Institute of Management and Innovation, for example, faculty and staff support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peel by providing Christmas gifts for the program’s youth participants. Carol Solonenko, the institute’s event coordinator, kickstarted this tradition of holiday giving a few years ago.
“I had worked in fundraising for Big Brothers Big Sisters previously, so I contacted them to obtain a list of names and ages of youth in need and the toys they wanted for Christmas,” Solonenko says.
Staff and faculty members chose names, bought the items and brought them to IMI’s holiday potluck luncheon where Solonenko collected them and later delivered them to a caseworker at Big Brothers Big Sisters. The idea of giving local youth something they really wanted for Christmas resonated with IMI colleagues, especially when they discovered that a number of the requests were simply for basic necessities such as mittens or body wash. They were keen to participate again this year.
“This year, I posted the list of youth on a Friday at 3:30 p.m. and, by Sunday, one of my colleagues let me know that we’d need more names,” Solonenko says. “We added 20, then 10 more. Some people are taking more than one name.
“I’m in awe. I can’t believe how people have rallied. I thought about doing something different this year, but everyone felt connected to this project.”
In fact, organizing the gift drive and the potluck have become so much more involved that Solonenko has created a committee of colleagues to assist with the logistics: Diana Aldaz, Ryan Cerrudo and Linnet Kocheril all help her handle the demands.
At Student Recruitment and Admissions, the student ambassadors have initiated a toy and food drive with the assistance of Nathalie Mejia, the manager of student recruitment and events outreach. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to drop non-perishable food items or boxed toys into the boxes at either the Admissions Office or the Registrar’s Office. Items collected will be distributed to the Mississauga Food Bank, the Seva Food Bank and the Salvation Army Toy Drive.
The drive is the brainchild of Aleesha Singh, a fourth-year biology major and student ambassador.
“I’ve been part of volunteer initiatives since middle school,” says Singh. “I noticed that most students are only in the registrar’s office when they are stressed about something, and I wanted them to view it as a happy place. A lot of kids come there at the end of the semester, so this is an opportunity for students and staff to work together.”
The drive runs until Dec. 14. Mejia has sent a notice about the drive to the corps of students who volunteer with the registrar’s office to encourage participation, but Singh is hopeful that the wider student community will participate.
“We wanted to create something that would bring students together,” she says. “I’m hoping it will become a tradition.”