1/6/2009

A Tree for the Season

A Tree for the Season

Reminding all of the meaning of the holiday season, a Christmas tree laden with donated soup and stockings stood majestically at the center of the Marketplace through the close of the fall semester.

The brainchild of Elizabethtown’s Dining Services organization, the Giving Tree effort sought donations of just $1 from campus community members to sponsor a stocking or soup can. In a few short weeks, campus contributions—supplemented with a donation of four cases of soup received directly from Campbell Soup Company—decorated the tree with more than 400 cans of soup and 400 stockings filled with coloring books, crayons and stuffed animals. According to Catering Manager Kathy Christopher, the project of creating the holiday tribute was a job fitting for a team of Santa’s elves. “Our volunteers worked more than eight hours assembling the tree, attaching the ornaments—each with a message of holiday cheer from the donor—and then blanketing the frame with 300 feet of paper chain,” says Christopher.

In mid-December, the tree’s metallic branches were dismantled in partnership with John and Eileen Hatchner Smith, both alumni of the Class of ’74, and their company, John Smith Real Estate Group. Just in time to brighten the holidays of those in need, the bountiful harvest was divided between Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster, Pa.; the Elizabethtown Food Bank in Elizabethtown, Pa.; and the Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg, Pa.

About the Photograph: (Shown l – r) Catering Manager Kathy Christopher, Residential Dining Chef and Production Manager Charles Downs, and Dining Services staff member Aaron Shaiebly take a moment from their holiday festivities to pose by the Giving Tree. Tidings for those in need adorned the tree until being donated to local food banks and rescue missions.