Every year, the Student Union Society (SUS) runs the Angel Tree program to help provide gifts for children of UFV students. This program helps alleviate some of the holiday stress by fulfilling their children’s wishes through community sponsorship. SUS President Ashley McDougall sat down with The Cascade* to share more about this initiative, and why it’s important to help UFV’s student parents.
“The holidays are a difficult time and we want to support other members of the UFV community [by] collecting gifts for their children,” said McDougall. UFV students who have children can register their kids online and fill out a form that specifies what gifts they’d like to receive.
Previously, SUS has co-sponsored 400 Angels through the Angel Tree program. “We want to sponsor as many as we can,” said McDougall, adding that their goal this year is to make sure there are enough sponsors for the kids. Registration opened from Nov. 1-10, and there are a total of 159 kids who have been registered as Angels in the program.
This year, SUS is encouraging more sponsorships by reaching out to their partners at UFV and taking the message to the streets, talking directly to members in the community about this initiative.
As of Nov. 10, sponsors can visit the SUS Angel Tree website where they’ll find a listing of Angels and their requests. “Anybody in the community can help out as a sponsor,” said McDougall. “We definitely encourage any members of the UFV community — students, faculty, any members — to sponsor kids.”
SUS will also be hosting a Santa booth on Nov. 30 at the Student Union Building to support Angel Tree, and again on Dec. 1 at the Chilliwack campus as well as the Trades and Technology Centre. McDougall — who will be dressing up as Santa — says it will be a fun opportunity for students to take pictures with Santa and get into the holiday spirit.
“We are really thankful to all of the sponsors who helped this program,” said McDougall. “We wouldn’t be able to do Angel Tree without the sponsors and I know that all of the UFV parents who register their kids are very thankful.”
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.
