If you’re looking for a way to give back to your community this winter season, look no further than the Honors Winterpalooza Donation Drive. This newly-annual tradition—hosted this year on December 6, from 2-5 pm in Lecture Hall North—brings lots of holiday cheer for all through a spread of numerous winter-themed activities. This year, the Honors Advisory Board thought of a new way to spread holiday joy outside of just our Honors community through a partnership with Jumpstart.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Maria Iacullo-Bird, who started Pace University’s branch of Jumpstart and has been running the program since 2007, as well as Sarah Delannoy, Pace’s Jumpstart Site Manager, to gather more information. According to Sarah, “Jumpstart is a nationwide, early education organization” that was built to make sure every child is prepared for success entering kindergarten. They focus on weekly group activities to build literacy and social and emotional skills in their young students outside of the regular school day.

Jumpstart at Pace University services four HeadStart and community-based preschool sites around the Lower East Side and Downtown NYC. Jumpstart serves in communities where at least 75% of enrolled children are from families with low-income as defined by federal guidelines. HeadStart preschool centers works with these families to offer a range of individualized services that support the children’s education and early childhood development. Jumpstart at Pace University is one of the few free literacy programs that consistently works with children and families to increase literacy, language and social outcomes in the classrooms and at home by providing tools for effective learning. Our hope for this collaboration is to gift materials to children at all four of these preschool sites, so we are starting this Donation Drive early.

So what does our donation drive look like? We have boxes set up in the Honors Lounge and one outside of the Jumpstart office. We are collecting “toys, developmentally appropriate books for children ages three to four, winter clothing (hats and gloves) in the sizes 3t and 4t, and hygiene items, like children’s toothbrushes, toothpaste, and combs.” Everything should be brand-new, but books can be lightly used but in good condition. If you’re going home over Thanksgiving break, that is the perfect time to dig up some of your old books that you don’t plan on using again!

I was curious about the emotionally rewarding aspects of a noble cause such as Jumpstart. Dr. Maria Iacullo-Bird, the Principal Investigator and Campus Champion, comments:

“The program benefits both our college students and the preschoolers in a supportive and joyous learning context. Jumpstart offers an exceptionally rewarding way for our students to earn their federal work study funds, and if they complete their service hours, they are eligible for AmeriCorps education awards. The preschool children advance in reading skills and the college students serve as role models to the children and their families.”

Educationally based social justice programs deserve recognition for the hard work they do—Jumpstart specifically is a unique opportunity for students who “enjoy being creative and reading story books to young children.” If you are interested in joining Jumpstart at Pace, reach out to Sarah Delannoy, sdelannoy@pace.edu—even without work-study funds, you can participate as a volunteer.

Sarah Delannoy, Jumpstart at Pace’s Site Manager, recently graduated with her master’s degree in Social Work, so these Donation Drive events hold a close place to her heart. She notes that she enjoys Jumpstart’s holistic value—not only do they host events such as this to aid their underserved sites, but they also host read-alouds. Sarah collaborates with the Preschool Directors of each site to ensure that the items collected meet the needs of the children and families to ensure lifelong school success. If you are interested in attending a read-aloud event, you can volunteer to drop off the donations we’ve collected after this drive is completed. There you can read books to the children at the pre-schools and give out the collected supplies.

As a way to reflect on our status—being college-aged students in the greatest city in the world—it’s always great to give back to your community. Throughout the next few weeks, make sure to drop donations into our boxes and to stop by during the Winterpalooza event and other December events to contribute to gift-wrapping. We are so excited to partner with such an incredible group of people who are constantly servicing the people around them; thank you Jumpstart!