This year, Elizabethtown College’s Student Senate and Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) raised $1,350 to sponsor 27 family holiday meals with the Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services program (ECHOS). This is a record-setting donation thanks to the efforts of E-town’s clubs.
In years past, the Student Senate and CCCE would collaborate to supply a few holiday meals, and each class would donate. This year, Matt Smith’21, service chair, offered the option for all clubs to sponsor a meal for $50. In addition, the CCCE bought turkeys to stretch the donation further. They were able to cover all of the names on the list that ECHOS provided, and with the extra money, both parties decided to help others who need food assistance for the Christmas season.
Smith said he came up with the idea when trying to come up with a way to raise as much money as possible to help the families. He stated that $50 was an estimate based on previous partnerships. The clubs that sponsored a holiday meal for a family were Kappa Delta Pi, E-Motion, the Student Occupational Therapy Association, the Council for Exceptional Children, Cru, the Social Work Student Organization, the Class of 2019, the Class of 2020, the Class of 2021, the Class of 2022, the Dance Team, the Family Business and Entrepreneurship Club and Circle K.
“After this first fundraiser, I think the clubs that donated this year will continue to donate in the future, and I hope new clubs will donate in the future,” Smith said.
Smith believes that after the success of this season’s fundraising, the CCCE and Student Senate will use this method in the future and that more money will be raised.
“I’d like to thank everyone in CCCE and the Student Senate Service Committee for their help! The members of the Service Committee are Chair Matt Smith, ’21, Vice-Chair Kim Holleran-Hunsinger, ’19, Lydia Stone, ’20, Amy Frasch, ’21, and Christina Schnee, ’22,” Smith said.