The Student Activities Council (SAC) partnered with the Carl Perkins Civic Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse to host Carl Perkins Christmas on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. in the Student Union Building (SUB) and the Bowld Student Commons.
Carl Perkins Christmas is an event where various individuals and groups from across campus volunteer to sponsor children from disadvantaged backgrounds, purchasing gifts for them, spending time with them and gifting them presents.
Any person and any group — from academic departments to student organizations to groups of friends — was eligible to sign up and sponsor as many children as they could. The size of the event nearly doubled this year, with over 50 children being sent to SAC by the Carl Perkins Civic Center.
Hannah Meier, a sophomore elementary education major, served within SAC as one of three chairs responsible for planning the event, which included ensuring there were enough people to accommodate the influx of children.
“My job was communication, so I emailed a lot of people — inside and outside of SAC — to ask them to sponsor kids,” Meier said.
The event began with each group meeting their assigned children in the SUB and then taking them to the Brewer Dining Hall — more commonly known as Cobo — to eat dinner. For Sarah Trouwborst, a senior nursing major who sponsored a child with the Jillz team, this was one of the highlights of the evening.
“I thought it was really sweet getting the kids into Cobo to see a college experience. The girl we sponsored had a few siblings there, so there was a little bit of a bigger group, and they were just really excited about being in a college food court,” Trouwborst said. “Just getting to know them as little kids, and seeing where they’re coming from, and seeing their background and their personality — it’s just really sweet.”
After dinner, the event moved over to the Bowld where the children were gathered together and read “The Christmas Pageant” by Tomie de Paola, a children’s book which is a retelling of the nativity story. Finally, the children opened their presents with their sponsors.
Each sponsor had been given their child’s wishlist, which allowed them to personalize their gifts. For Meier, the gift unwrapping was a vital part of what the event was about.
“They come from hard backgrounds and families, and we just give them a Christmas they don’t usually have,” Meier said. “Seeing these kids open these gifts is really precious. They will be like, ‘oh my gosh, I wanted this for Christmas’ and they go home and they will talk about it for months and months.”
For Macie Smith, a senior public relations major who volunteered with the department of languages, literature and writing, the event was also an opportunity to become more connected to the larger Jackson community.
“I also just have enjoyed really anything that gives me more touch points with the Jackson community outside of Union … just getting to know more people in Jackson and reaching out, I think, is really fun and important,” Smith said. “As students, it’s easy to get insular with our community. You know, everyone talks about the Union bubble, so I always just take whatever opportunity I can to try to step out of that.”
Additionally, Smith enjoyed the time she spent with the children and echoed Meier’s sentiments about the value the experience provided them.
“Life is hard, but giving someone a pair of fuzzy socks can make their Christmas a little more magical and fun,” Smith said.
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