Ramblers Volunteer with Santa for a Day

This holiday season, Campus Ministry has partnered with Santa for a Day, a 501 (c) (3) public charity that provides holiday gifts, basic needs and educational supplies for economically disadvantaged children living in urban public housing properties, to offer Ramblers a unique opportunity to serve and give back. Founded in 2018 to benefit residents of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), Santa for a Day (SFAD) has since expanded to Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Kansas City.
The process begins with children writing letters to Santa. SFAD volunteers then read the letters and help Santa decide which gifts to send via Amazon, and generous donors help fulfill each Christmas wish. Over a dozen Ramblers volunteered to finish the process by individually wrapping gifts that have arrived at SFAD headquarters in Evanston (last year there were over 10,000 gifts!).

“It was a really unique venture of service and was perfect for the holiday season,” says Madeleine Meadows ’22. “It was amazing that in just a few hours, our group was able to wrap so many gifts for children across the country.” 
 
“I loved that the presents we wrapped were being shipped to seven different U.S. cities,” adds Nick Schallmo ’24.” “I enjoyed relating myself to the gifts we were wrapping.”
 
“I liked being able to work with friends while listening to Christmas music!” says Lexi Brkovic ’22. “It was a very fun environment and made me feel happy as I knew I was doing something beneficial for young children who require a little extra joy around the holiday season.” 

“Santa for a Day differs from other seasonal gift operations because a targeted literacy component is integral to our work,” explains founder Rich Gentile, a Loyola Academy graduate parent of Richard '09, Matthew '11, Molly '15 and Rylie '19. “We host letter writing events with mentors from local colleges and universities where children craft letters to Santa. We also host follow up ‘thank you, Santa!’ letter writing events and creative writing workshops throughout the year.” 

To date, Santa for a Day has helped Santa deliver 9, 872 gifts to some of urban America's most underserved children. Learn more at https://www.santaforaday.net/.
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