Change for children

Gerard Hall students Nathan Calder, Shevawn Desrosiers, Ryan Clowe and Corey Ireland show off the toys they purchased with money raised through the Change for Children campaign. (Danny Abriel Photo)

When students from Gerard Hall went to Toys R Us on a shopping spree, Nathan Calder went straight for the fire trucks.

“What can I say?” he shrugs good-naturedly. “It’s a classic toy for a young boy.”

Students in the Dalhousie residence on Sexton campus raised almost $1,200 for needy children last week — $634.46 in nickels, dimes and quarters and $500 from residence council. Residence assistant Shevawn Desrosiers basically parked herself in the lobby of the residence last week, appealing to students as they came and went to donate their change.

“People really got into it,” says Ms. Desrosiers, a design student at NSCAD U. “It stirred up a lot of great energy.”

And then they went shopping: loading cart after cart with coloring books, train sets, teddy bears, crayons, balls, Lego, science toys and My Little Pony. And the fire truck, of course. The toys were delivered during Saturday’s Parade of Lights.

“It was a blast. We had four carts going at once and piling them high with whatever toys we wanted,” says Mr. Calder, a community design student. “Knowing they were going to kids who don’t have that much made it all the more fun.”

In total, students raised almost $2,000 for the Change for Children campaign among all Dalhousie residences, including $148 from Howe Hall, $500 from Risley and $196.98 from Shirreff Hall. Spearheading the campaign was Jessica Roy, Erin Dwyer, Aly Hirji, Lyndsay Russell, Lindsey Ward, Emily Harrison and Ms. Desrosiers.