The University will once again support the Give Thanks Give Back campaign during the holiday season, as the program celebrates its five-year anniversary.
Give Thanks Give Back supports a group called “100 Neediest Cases,” a joint project of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the United Way. The 100 Neediest Cases actually identifies more than 10,000 cases of St. Louis area residents struggling to overcome poverty during the holiday season.
As the holiday season approaches, the newspaper publishes the personal case stories of 100 families or individuals. Although each of the 10,000 cases will receive some assistance, only a small percentage of families are “adopted,” meaning that an individual or group agrees to buy gifts, clothing, household appliances or other requested items for the family.
Give Thanks Give Back aims to support the initiative by adopting as many families as possible and collecting gifts and donations from members of the University community to pass along to area families in need.
The University’s Office of Student Activities became involved in the program in 1998 when staff members adopted a single family. By 2001, the effort had evolved into a campus-wide program called Give Thanks Give Back.
In 2002, the University community adopted 83 families. In each of the past two years, Give Thanks Give Back has adopted more than 100.
Individuals can adopt one member of a family on their own, or groups can join together to adopt an entire family. After registering, volunteers will be given clothing and shoe sizes for each family member, as well as a list of items they have requested.
Gifts will be collected Nov. 7-11 at the Campus Y in Umrath Hall, followed by volunteer gift-wrapping parties Nov. 12 and 19 in Umrath Lounge. Monetary donations are welcome as well.
For more information, go online to restech.wustl.edu/~gtgb or e-mail gtgb@restech.wustl.edu.