HOLYOKE — Once again, Holyoke Community College delivered.
For the 23rd year, the HCC community collected hundreds of holiday gifts for consumers at four nonprofit agencies through its annual Giving Tree campaign.
On Thursday, Dec. 12, representatives from the four agencies – Homework House, the Holyoke Veterans Home, WestMass ElderCare, and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – attended a closing celebration where 302 gifts were distributed.
“Without community partners like you, we wouldn’t be able to create moments of joy for our veterans,” said Colleen Strunk-Ackerly, volunteer coordinator for the Veterans Home, formerly the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
Each year during the annual campaign, Giving Trees are set up in designated areas around campus. Participants choose tags from one of the nonprofit agencies based on the age of the recipient and their wish for a gift. The wrapped gifts are then piled on tables for the closing celebration, when HCC faculty, staff, and students join with representatives from the agencies to share food and stories.
“This is an amazing tradition and always brings out the best of HCC,” said Giving Committee chair Michelle Vigneault.
Brittani Bey, prevention programs supervisor, for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, noted that a lot of the agency’s consumers can’t afford to buy gifts for their children.
“Many of our families are homeless, don’t have family support, and are struggling with their day-to-day needs,” she said, “so being part of the HCC Giving Tree allows them just a little peace during this time of year, so thank you.”
“This support of Christmas gifts definitely keeps our kids’ spirits high,” said David Haslam, executive director of Homework House, an after-school program in Holyoke. Roseann Martoccia, executive director of WestMass ElderCare, read a letter from one of the agency’s care managers, who has been distributing holiday gifts from HCC for 11 years:
“The Giving Tree program is a blessing,” she said. “When gifts arrive and are delivered, the appreciation the consumers have is heartwarming. Some are surprised. All are grateful. It’s a wonderful feeling, knowing they were thought of and the community cares.”
The Commonwealth’s oldest community college, Holyoke Community College opened its doors in 1946 as the first two-year college in Massachusetts. In the decades since, the college has paved the way for generations of learners from western Massachusetts and beyond, a beacon of hope and opportunity for people seeking better lives. Please visit us at hcc.edu. ■