'Tis the Season of Giving

Duaa Zaheer – Awareness Coordinator @ TRC

The smell of cookies and hot cocoa is in the air. Festive decorations and sparkling lights are everywhere. Every radio station is playing Michael Bublé. It’s the holiday season which means joy and cheer and fuzzy sweaters. It also means sales, last minute gift shopping and desperately hoping your Amazon package shows up on time. 

The holiday season can be a wonderful time full of memories, traditions and spending time with your loved ones. But, it can also be stressful. The days are shorter, the nights are darker. Seasonal depression creeps up and makes us feel helpless.

The holiday season is all about giving and spreading kindness but how do we do that when we have to worry about exams? How do we even get started when we don’t know where to go?

I have often felt this way. I wanted to give back to my community but I never knew where to start. I also knew that because of exams and deadlines, I didn’t have the time to commit to a big project. As the Awareness Coordinator, I want to give students the opportunity to give back to their own student community this season. We have launched the Giving Tree at all three Sheridan campuses.

The Giving Tree is there to collect food and clothing donations. The food donations will be allocated to the SSU’s Food First program; a food resource program for Sheridan students who need a little extra support. The clothing donations will be given out to local shelters. The Giving Tree also gives back; informational flyers about our volunteering program will be attached to candy canes and hung on the tree. A little bit of sweetness to go with your sweet tooth! 

These small acts of kindness will go a long way. Not only will we be impacting someone else’s life but we can take pride in the fact that we contributed and did something to help someone in need. Small actions can lead to big change.