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| Christmas = Generosity + Giving + lots of laughter and cheers |
Last December 11, 2021, together with seven of my peers in the 2021-2022 Humphrey Fellows at
Penn State University, I joined community volunteers in one of the most cherished American holiday
traditions in the spirit of generosity and sharing - the annual Marine Corps Toys
for Tots, organized by the United States Marine Corps Reserve. We celebrated the end of a
remarkable Fall semester by trying to show our own generosity and eagerness to share our time with our Penn State and State College community in service to
others. Accompanied by our community
hosts, Star Campbell, Jane Reese, and Jack and Joyce Igoe, at the Penn Stater Hotel
and Conference Center, we volunteered to sort and pack
toys in bags to be distributed to economically disadvantaged children in Centre County, PA. Our hosts assisted us to personally
sign Christmas cards to accompany the bags of toys.
As we look forward to spending the holidays in the United States, which is a first for some of us, we took time to volunteer in the Christmas spirit for our host community. Along with community members, we helped organize and pack hundreds of bags of new toys that were donated from State College and surrounding communities. It was marvelous to see the amazing volume of toys and the spirit of gift-giving and sharing in the community! We found out that, last year, there were 18,561 toys distributed to 8,319 children. We certainly hope that more children will benefit from this worthy community endeavor this year.
I was impressed by the spirit of unity and cooperation in the community that made Toys for Tots possible. It was remarkable! That day, I experienced another of the many sides of the United States – that side that happily puts giving and service to others first and foremost, and it was infectious. As we were sorting toys, my community host, Jane Reese, started to hum a Christmas carol, and all hummed along. Most of us were giggling and skipping around to the rhythm of the song while observing social distancing. Before we knew it, we had sorted thousands of toys. Our hearts were full but we felt as light as feather – I loved it!
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Note: The photo used in this entry is mine. Parts of this entry have been published in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program Newsletter, published by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
