This Christmas, St. Thomas University is getting into the holiday spirit with the first annual STU Wellness Donation Tree. The tree symbolizes compassion and helps bring awareness to the food banks around Fredericton and surrounding areas.
Lori Orchard, who is the head of STU Wellness, says although this is the first year St.Thomas has hosted a fundrasier like this, they are hoping to be successful this year and the following years to come.
“We decided to have a theme, living compassion and how compassion can change your daily life. I teamed with the food bank’s leader, Janet, and we told her we wanted to do this donation tree. We knew about the rivals on campus bewteen the different houses and we thought it would be a great idea,” said Lori.
The donation tree is located in James Dunn Hall and features the different residences and buildings at St. Thomas. Although the tree only features the ten locations, off-campus students are welcome to contribute.
“When we the meeting, we thought about the off-campus students and decided that they could pick their favorite resident or even just a random one to place their food item in. Although this is a healthy competion bewteen the residents, it’s not unfair for someone who doesn’t live on campus to place something in a house,” she added.
With the holidays fast approaching, STU wellness is hoping to have many donations by Dec. 4th, which is the deadline for the tree. If you want to learn more about STU Wellness or about donating a food item yourself, send Lori an e-mail at wellness@stu.ca.