GW Celebrates the Spirit of the Season with Party, Charity Drives

By Julia Parmley

Seasonal music, mistletoe, and holiday treats will be in abundance at GW’s 2008 all-University holiday party. On Dec. 16, GW faculty and staff will celebrate throughout the third floor of the Marvin Center from 2-4:30 p.m. In accord with this year’s “Home for the Holidays” theme, guests will enjoy delicious holiday food and activities, including a carving station, a pasta station, and caricature artists. Guests who donate canned goods, dry goods, socks for soldiers, and toys at the party will be entered into a prize drawing.

Also at the party, the GW Holiday Committee will announce the winner of the Door Decorating Contest, organized by Dan Campbell, executive assistant in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. A slideshow of the doors will be shown in the Grand Ballroom.

The University’s holiday celebration includes more than just the party. GW holds several seasonal charity drives, including Adopt-a-Family and Toys-for-Tots. More than 120 departments and student groups donated gifts to 140 local families in need last year through the Adopt-a-Family program, sponsored by the GW Holiday Committee and the Office of Community Service.

The Holiday Committee also is organizing a clothing drive, a canned food drive, and a blood drive. Clothing bins are located throughout campus, and clothes will be accepted until Dec. 19. From Dec. 8 to 12, depart¬ments will compete to donate the most canned food, which will be given to So Others Might Eat (S.O.M.E.), a local charity for the poor and homeless. For more information, call (202) 994-2779.

The GW Bookstore, together with the Jumpstart program, will collect children’s books until Dec. 19. A variety of children’s books will be available for purchase at a 20 percent discount to be donated to Jumpstart’s reading program. For more information, call (202) 994-5342.
Holiday greeting cards will again be available to sign at the celebration and can be dropped off in advance at the first floor lobby in Duquès Hall until Dec. 15. The nondenominational cards go to patients at GW Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center, and Hospice of Washington, and seniors at St. Mary’s Court.

GW’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps is holding a Toys-for-Tots drive, providing toys for needy children in the D.C. area. ROTC members will collect new, unwrapped toys at the GWU/Foggy Bottom Metro station from 7-8:30 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. through Dec. 12. Toys also will be collected at the party.

This year’s celebration includes two new charity drives: Socks for Troops and the GW Red Scarf Project. Socks will be collected for soldiers stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, and can be dropped off at the first floor lobby in Duquès Hall until Dec. 15 or donated at the party. The Red Scarf Project donates hand-knit and crocheted scarves to foster/orphaned students attending college as part of the Orphan Foundation of America’s annual initiative.

Faculty and staff on the Virginia Campus also will celebrate on Dec. 16 with a holiday brunch buffet and prize drawings from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Building 2’s Colonial Cafe. For holiday gift-giving, employees on the Virginia Campus may contribute toys, clothes, and personal items for all ages to Loudoun County’s Holiday Store, where eligible families can choose specific gift items for their children.

For more information on GW’s holiday efforts, visit www.gwu.edu/ ~holiday or contact the Office of University Events at (202) 994-7129.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu