Today: Mar 28, 2024

Disability Resource Center hosts first Stuff-A-Shuttle Kickoff Party

Jessica Pellegrino  – General Assignment Reporter 

The Farnham Programming Space was alive with holiday spirit as the Disability Resource Center held their first ever Stuff-A-Shuttle Kickoff Party. The ugly sweater-themed event involved various activities including raffles, Jeopardy and holiday card making stations.

In order to get into the event, students had to donate. The more donations the student made, the more raffle tickets they received. The DRC raffled off an item every 15 minutes. The items collected at the kickoff event will be donated for the holiday season.

ugly sweater-3 copyThe most heavily populated station was the holiday card making station. Students created holiday themed cards to be donated to Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry. They will attached to the holiday food packages that the pantry provides families in need. Students were encouraged to write inspiring messages on the cards.

The Stuff-A-Shuttle event is a collaborative project with many organization on campus including the Disability Resource Center, Outreach Unlimited, Southern Connecticut State University Police and Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity.

Chandler Johnson, sophomore and Outreach Unlimited member, believes donating during the holiday season is crucial.

“We collect donations to benefit homeless.” said Johnson. “We collect mostly food, clothing and toiletry items. It is just so important to make people feel loved and cheerful during the holiday season. Everybody deserves that happiness.”

The DRC is collecting clothing items, like heavily needed winter coats, non-perishable food items, and toiletries such as shampoo, soaps, diapers, toothbrushes and toothpastes.

ugly sweater-1 copyBecause the holiday season is amidst the winter months, shelters and pantries see an upsurge in the requirement for donations to supplement the surplus of needy individuals and families. Not only are food items important, but so winter-type clothing items.

Though this is the third year for the DRC’s Stuff-A-Shuttle, this the first year the center held a kickoff event. Lindsay Raddock, Outreach Unlimited member, said,“The event gets people excited. We have games and prizes to win when you donate. We are kicking off our Stuff-A-Shuttle event in a really fun way.”

Through the years, the DRC has garnered the attention of other organizations eager to help out with the Stuff-A-Shuttle event. Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity became involved as a result of President Alex Audet.

“I met Deborah Fairchild, the woman who runs the DRC, at last year’s event,” said Audet.  “She asked me for help so I pitched the idea to the boys and they loved it. We’ve been involved ever since, and our involvement continues to grow. We even have a chair position just for this event.”

Events like Stuff-A-Shuttle are crucial to the surrounding community, so they require all the support they can get.

“The reason we decided to do a kickoff event is to make Southern aware, early on, about what we are doing here.” says Audet. “Though Stuff-A-Shuttle is not until late March, it is never too early to get the campus excited about it and get the donations started. We advertised this event on the SCSU Mobile App, the electronic boards in the student center, and on flyers all over campus. We are really trying to make this event really big and get as many people and organizations involved a possible. The need is really so great and I want to do as much as I can to help out the DRC is creating a truly successful event.”

The DRC’s Third Annual Stuff-A-Shuttle Donation Drive will be held on March 27. They will be collecting donations starting now and the drive will be continuing until the event at the end of March. Donations can be dropped off at the Disability Resource Center.

Photo Credit: Derek Torrellas

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