UTM’s Undergraduate Commerce Society raised over $600 from their Five Days of Giving charity event last week.
UTM Free the Children, UTM Residence Council, World University Services Canada-UTMSU, UTM Helping Hands, and UTM Muslims Student Association also collaborated with UCS for the week-long events.
“In total, UCS raised over $600 from the henna fundraiser, raffle sale, Christmas stockings filled with goodies sale, and general donations,” stated Rebeeyah Jabeen, the Undergraduate Commerce Society’s corporate social responsibility director, to The Medium.
“Half of the funds will be used to purchase toys for children at the Sick Kids Foundation, and the other half will be used to purchase food for low-income families with Canada Zakat.”
From Monday to Friday, various events were hosted throughout the campus, including gift-wrapping with Santa, a food and toy drive, and making sandwiches for the less fortunate.
“During the three days, about 45 student volunteers helped collect the donations in Davis and OPH,” said Jabeen.
“About 20 students participated in making over 90 sandwich packs, and 15 students volunteered their time to wrap over 130 presents for children in about two and a half hours.”
UCS also reached out to faculty for donations, and collected three boxes of clothing, food, and toys from different departments on campus.
On Wednesday, a Wish List Drive with Sick Kids was also held to help collect toy donations.
“We managed to buy 15 bags of toys,” said UTM Helping Hands’ president Mohammed Amin to The Medium. “Everything from stuffed animals, to childcare care items, even books.”
“We wanted to get at least one corporate sponsor to help with the toy drive. We managed to get Mastermind toys on Hurontario, and they’ve actually donated a few LEGO boxes,” said Amin.
UTM’s Helping Hands, a newly-founded organization this year, achieved their goal of raising $300, according to Amin.
Other plans for the organization include hosting a clothing drive for the homeless this December and early January of 2017.
