For Waterloo, a season of giving

This is the latest in a series of #UWCommunity stories that feature Waterloo in the community.

Traditions are an important part of every community, especially around the holidays, and the University of Waterloo is no exception.  Each December students, faculty and staff in our many faculties and departments come together to support numerous holiday initiatives.   From toy drives to the collection of winter wearables to food hamper deliveries, our Waterloo community is working together to give back to the community we live in.  

One of the highlights of our annual holiday giving is the Children’s Christmas Project, which provides gifts for over 113 families and over 200 children in our community.  Through the Children’s Christmas Project, various departments and faculties on campus “adopt-a-family”, and are responsible for purchasing the gifts on the wish lists of the families.

The project began 27 years ago as a small initiative lead by Janet Metz, a student advisor in Co-Operative Education and Career Action, and quickly became an ongoing tradition for many faculties and departments.  Now it is not unusual for groups to adopt four or five families and Janet has even had to recruit her grandson, Numa Weva, to help manage all the activity. For Numa, who has been a part of this project for as long as he can remember, this project allows all children to share in the magic of Christmas.  When the children return to school after the holidays and their peers talk about all of their presents, they won’t feel left out and they could join in and share the excitement. 

Waterloo’s School of Social Work staff and faculty took a break from regular activities and spent a morning to volunteer with House of Friendship, delivering Christmas Hampers as part of the “12 days for good” program. In total, about 10 volunteers delivered between 70-80 hampers. According to Trish Noordstra, SSW Field Education Coordinator, “Although our aching bodies might disagree, this is a small part of the 4.400 that the House of Friendship needs delivered this year! Over 11,000 individuals and families will receive food this year through the hamper program.”

During their annual holiday party the Office of Advancement asked staff members to bring in items in support of Mary’s Place and ROOF.  Through their efforts Advancement was able to collect over 130 items, ranging from winter accessories to children’s toys, and over $400 for both organizations. 

Both Renison staff and Velocity staff hold their own office toy exchange.  The exchange is done Secret Santa style, with the toys purchased for a specific recipient in mind.  The gift is geared towards the likes of the receiver, for example if someone likes horses, they might get a gift of a toy horse, with all toys being donated in their sealed packages to the Tree of Angels at Conestoga Mall once the exchange is over.

In addition to the above mentioned initiatives, our Department of Athletics and Recreation collected donations in support of KidSport at their annual holiday party and our Waterloo Residences supported the Out of the Cold program and Operation Christmas Child through various collections.

It is through these initiatives, as well as others taking place on campus that the University of Waterloo has the opportunity to give back to our community during such a special time. 

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Waterloo International on the move

by Kayla Dixon.

Waterloo International (WI) will be moving to East Campus on Saturday, December 20.

Our new location will be East Campus 3 at 195 Columbia Street West. Please come see us in our new “temporary” home, while renovations are completed at East Campus 1. WI will be closed on Friday, December 19, 2014 as we prepare to move. Normal business hour will resume on Monday, December 22.

Please refer to the Waterloo International website for location details.

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Thursday's notes

'Tis the season for office closures! Here's a list of what's closing and for how long over the next couple of days:

• The Finance - Student Accounts Office will be closed today from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. for the Finance Christmas lunch.
• The Office of Research will be closed on Friday, December 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for a staff function.
• In a similar vein, the Graduate Studies Office will be closed on Friday, December 19 from 12 noon onwards.
• Campus Tech, WatCard and all Media.Doc locations will be closed on Monday, December 22 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Here's an addition to yesterday's list of retirees: Human Resources is reporting that Joe Bevan of Mapping, Analysis and Design is retiring effective January 1, 2015. Joe started working at the University in September 1988 and retires as Multimedia Specialist.

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