Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas – Students, staff and faculty at South Texas College’s Starr County campus have all come together to make Christmas a little brighter for children in the foster care system.
STC, in partnership with the Starr County Child Welfare Board, collected over 108 gifts this season for children, enough so they get at least three gifts each, through an annual toy drive created by the college’s Counseling and Student Accessibility Office.
The gift drive, which has been in place for more than six years, was created to assist foster children up to 18 years of age and is organized by STC students, clubs and organizations, which volunteered their time and participated in a college-wide effort to encourage others to participate in the annual gift drive.
Participating clubs and organizations include Starr County campus Student Government Association (SGA), Student Leadership Association (SLA), nursing students and staff, Ascender Club, Psychology Club, Criminal Justice Club, Music Club and Tabletop Club.
“This season the kids are going to be receiving three gifts; this is because of the enormous amount of support we received from everyone. We had a lot of instructors encouraging students. We had a lot of students encouraging students, and everybody connected with one another and got involved,” said Alejandra Lopez, Starr County campus counseling representative who also helped organize the gift drive. “The students all wanted to be part of this effort, and as a department we feel it’s super important that they get involved in our communities. They just wanted to see that smile on the children’s faces.”
Donations will be made to the children privately over the holiday season.
Starr County student Jazmine Lozano, who is vice president of Ascender, as well as a member of SLA and SGA, was a key figure in the gift drive and was among those who took the initiative to ensure gifts were collected.
Lopez, who is studying Criminal Justice, said she made it her mission to ensure all children received an additional gift this year.
“I just knew I wanted to help the children in our community and make them feel special this Christmas,” Lopez said. “Most importantly, this comes from the entire STC family. It has been so important to help our community and through a great support system here on campus we were able to make this possible for those kids in foster homes.”
For more information about the services offered by STC’s Counseling office visit www.studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/counseling/services.html.
