The past season brings out people’s charitable instincts, and the Concordia community was no exception.

Between October and January, Concordians donated more than $12,000 to the Student Emergency Food Fund.

Add to that $5,803 raised by the Alumni Book Fair in early October and donations from June to October, and the total comes to $18,792 for the year.

Bernie Glover, of Campus Ministry, said, “Contributions to the Fund come from all areas of the community. Many of the unions at Concordia, notably part-time faculty (CUPFA), Continuing Education (CUCEPTFU), the professionals (CUPEU) and the Faculty Association (CUFA), all made significant contributions.”

There was a great response, as always, to the Holiday Tree in the J.W. McConnell atrium. Pina Greco and other volunteers persuaded passersby to buy the right to put a decoration on the big tree, and raised $720 for the Fund.

There were other holiday events to raise money for students, from a “Putt to Win” contest to a concert organized by the Music Department called “The Spirit of a Jazzy Christmas” and held at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. Applied Human Sciences, Health Services, Concave, the Bookstore and others raised money for needy students, and had fun doing it.

Glover reports that once again, the Loyola Chapel community donated their Sunday collections for the Advent season, more than $1,100, to the Fund. Our downtown neighbour, the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, donated $250.

Boi May Ang reports that the latest edition of the silent auction held by Libraries staff raised a record $3,000 for nearly a dozen causes, including $300 for our own students. Many items and services are donated, and participants buy them in the atmosphere of a warm, friendly holiday party. Many raffle and door prizes were given, and Candice Bruno sold the most raffle tickets.

Concordians helped other Montrealers, too. Facilities Management held a Christmas raffle that raised a whopping $1,313 for St. Justine’s and the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Claudie Boujaklian posted a list of nearly 60 prizes on Shoptalk in the hopes that the winners would claim them.

The Annual Concordia Food Drive organized by Lise Tavares (Information Services), Sue O’Connell (Psychology) and the staff of Distribution Services went over the top. Lise reported to Shoptalk that 79 boxes of food, clothing and toys went to two Montreal shelters.

One professor in the Education Department has a wonderful annual project that brings students, faculty and staff together just before the holidays to wrap donated toys for needy children.