Students Spread the Season of Giving

12.16.2009

The Bay Path College community and Education Club will demonstrate the season of giving with the 5th Annual Giving Tree. This year, the Education Club selected two families from the Alice B. Beal and Sumner Avenue schools in Springfield, who are in need of gifts during the holidays.

At the start of the holiday season, the Education Club gives members of the Bay Path community an opportunity to select an ornament from the Giving Tree. Each ornament states the name or type of present a child or parent/guardian has requested, and Bay Path students, faculty and staff purchase the gifts and place the items under the tree. On Friday, December 11, 2009, the Education Club collected the presents from under the Giving Tree, and wrapped the gifts prior to giving them to the Alice B. Beal and Sumner Avenue principals. The principals then distributed the presents to the families in need.

The families who were selected as this year’s Giving Tree recipients each have four children, and have faced financial difficulties within the last year. The Bay Path community has purchased gifts ranging from Hannah Montana merchandise and games and movies for the entire family to favorite books and winter clothing.

In addition to the Giving Tree, Bay Path’s Education Club is collecting new and gently used winter clothing for Springfield schoolchildren during its seventh annual Winter Clothing Drive, which will last until the end of March. The Club also collects donations annually from the Bay Path community to purchase dictionaries for Alice B. Beal and Sumner Avenue schoolchildren.