For release: Dec. 17, 2012
News and Media
Relations contact: Jimmy Hart, 615-898-5131 or Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — As
a mother, the smile on Leranda Collier's said it all.
"That's all she wanted," the Murfreesboro resident
said, as her daughter, Akira Lawrence, cried and cradled the beautiful pair of
new skates she had just unwrapped during a Christmas party held Friday evening
inside the MTSU Public Safety Department.
Akira, 13, was among several children who received Christmas
gifts as part of the successful MTSU Little Raiders' gift-giving campaign held
this year. The campus community responded with True Blue holiday spirit,
picking off almost three dozen "ornaments" that had adorned three
Christmas trees on campus.
MTSU Public Safety, Campus Recreation Center and the June
Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students were joined by the OWLS
(Older, Wiser Learners) and Golden Key Honor Society student organizations in
jointly sponsored the campaign as a community service project.
The effort targeted MTSU students with children as well as
parents being served by the Domestic Violence Program.
Friday night’s party included plenty of donated food such as
barbecue, pizza and dessert as well as an assortment of gifts distributed by
none other than Santa himself (played by MTSU Police Officer Brett Huskey).
“It turned out great,” said Sgt. Vergena Forbes, the MTSU
Community Policing specialist who spearheaded the effort. “We had tons of food
from all of our donors. Families came out with the kids. They got to see Santa
and got gifts from Santa … some of them were crying because they got exactly
what they wished for.”
Forbes revived the campaign, last held in 2006, this year.
The result was gifts ranging from bicycles to toy trains to new coats, thanks
to the generosity of members of the Blue Raider community.
Similar to the Salvation Army’s well-known Angel Tree, the
Little Raiders’ Christmas trees on campus were decorated with laminated paper
“ornaments” containing a needy child’s age, gender, clothing size and wish
list. Participants who picked the available numbered ornaments from the trees
registered as Secret Santas.
“This was a blessing,” said mom Gloria Broussard as she
watched her three children, ages 7, 2 and 4 months, enjoy the new bicycle, toy
train and Elmo doll Santa handed out just minutes earlier.
Sgt. David Smith assisted Forbes with the project, along
with Jenny Crouch, Campus Recreation’s marketing and adaptive recreation
coordinator, who represented the Golden Key Honor Society, and Valerie Avent,
assistant director of the June Anderson Center and the OWLs adviser.
“I’m looking forward to doing it again next year,” Forbes
said.
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Note to media: high
resolution photos attached
CAPTIONS:
MTSU Little Raiders-1.jpg
Santa Claus (MTSU
Police Officer Brett Huskey) holds 4-month-old Journey Truesdale as MTSU Police
Sgt. Vergena Forbes, right, helps gather gifts during the Little Raiders’
Christmas party held Friday evening at the MTSU Public Safety Department.
(Photo by MTSU News and Media Relations)
MTSU Little Raiders-2.jpg
Ariel Klimpel, 13, is
all smiles as she poses with Santa Claus and her new bicycle during the Little
Raiders’ Christmas party on Friday at the MTSU Public Safety Department. (Photo
by MTSU News and Media Relations)
MTSU is committed to
developing a community devoted to learning, growth, and service. We hold these
values dear, and there’s a simple phrase that conveys them: “I am True
Blue.” Learn more at www.mtsu.edu/trueblue.
For MTSU news anytime, visit www.MTSUNews.com.
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