Traditional gift-giving during this holiday season may prove to be a difficult task for some families who may not have enough money for children’s toys, large holiday meals or even a house to stay warm in.

This year, some ISU students and staff members have been donating their time to help less fortunate families in Ames through community service.

Heather Phillips, residence life coordinator, says the Fresh Start Program, a program in the residence halls committed to community involvement, is a great way for new students to get involved in community service.

“The Fresh Start Program gets students into volunteering more than other residence halls,” Phillips says. “The rationale behind the entire program is to encourage students to get involved with the campus and the community.”

She also says volunteering helps students make social connections, making their college experience more rewarding.

“There has been a lot of research done,” she says. “If you get involved in your campus and community, you will be more successful and have a more positive experience in college.”

Katie Bryda, a residence hall coordinator in Eaton Hall, says she helps coordinate volunteering opportunities at Eaton Hall, one of the Fresh Start residence halls.

Bryda says Eaton has been very successful with Penny Wars, a student-based competition that raises money for Toys for Tots, an annual charity sponsored by the Marines Corps.

“We’ve raised over $6,000 in the past two years,” Bryda says. “At the final hours of the competition, there were 75 to 100 students with shoeboxes full of money in the lobby waiting to add it to the collections.”

She says the house that raises the most money gets to go to the mall and buy the toys they will donate to Toys for Tots.

She says the program also helps support kids who may be overlooked in these donations.

“Something we did learn is that when people donate, they always bring in toys for very small children, which overlooks teenagers,” she says. “Sometimes kids 12 through 17 get left out of the mix so it helps that the program will accept cash donations that they would be able to use.”

She says Fresh Start is not the only way to help support the community through service.

“There are so many opportunities in Ames and Story County,” she says. “I think so many students have it instilled into them that it is already a part of their daily lives when they come to college.”

One of the larger and more well-known volunteering groups on campus is Habitat for Humanity, a national program composed of volunteers who are committed to providing low-income families with sufficient housing.

Jessica Kundinger, president of Habitat’s ISU campus chapter, says there is a need for more adequate low cost housing in Ames, and students wanted to help.

“In 1998, the Ames-Story County Housing Assessment Study stated that 32.5 percent of all households in Ames could not afford their housing costs,” says Kundinger, junior in construction engineering. “The students felt that they needed to get involved and be a part of the younger generation raising awareness and helping be a part of such an incredible organization.”