The holiday season was a busy time on campus as numerous departments and units joined with students, faculty and staff to support local charities. Just a sampling of the activities reflect UC Davis' commitment to the local community, including:

• A dozen different campus departments or units adopted a local family by participating in the local Short Term Emergency Aid Committee's annual Holiday Program. The program provides food, clothing, household items and gifts to families with incomes at or below the poverty level.
• The Cal Aggie Alumni Association sponsored its annual Holiday Gift Wrap. The group delivered donated gifts to Families First in Davis and Sacramento Children's Home. Gifts included toys, games, sporting equipment, school supplies and presents for adults including toiletries, cosmetics and other helpful items. CAAA also adopts a family each year for the STEAC program.
• UC Davis Dining Services by Sodexho purchased $4,700 worth of tuna, peanut butter, frozen entrees, soups, canned vegetables and fruit and donated the food to the Food Bank of Yolo County. Money to purchase the food was provided by students who gave up meals as part of the annual Fast for Exchange for Food donation.
• The Junior Panhellenics held a Toys for Tots drive. Ten participating sorority houses put up bins to collect unwrapped toys including: Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi.
• For the past 10 years, a group of volunteers at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has carried on a tradition of making holiday pet "baskets" for the Mercer Vet Clinic for the Homeless. Mercer Veterinary Clinic for the Homeless is a non-profit, student-operated organization providing free care for the animal companions of the homeless.
• The Graduate School of Management adopted three Yolo County families this year. GSM students, faculty, and staff contributed more than $1,000 in cash and goods donations. Gifts included tricycles and bikes, a used computer and printer, shoes, new clothes, dishes, educational toys and books. GSM also hosted an annual wrapping party in which students, faculty and staff were invited to participate.
• The School of Law also participated in STEAC's Holiday Program. The school collected $1,280 to provide food, gifts, shelter and ongoing assistance throughout the year.
• The Black Law Students Association Holiday Toy Drive collected more than 300 toys, books, games and dolls for the children of St. HOPE Academy Charter School in Sacramento. Faculty, staff and students from King Hall participated. BLSA members delivered the toys and spoke with students about law school and the importance of education in the students' lives.
• Dihn Luong of Alpha Phi Omega, psychology lecturer Barbara Sommer and a group of graduate students led by Brandy Wiegers organized a holiday party for youth in foster care. Leslie Woodhouse, laboratory director for USDA's Western Human Nutrition Research Center on campus, organized a group that created Christmas stockings full of gifts for six boys who live at Grove House, Progress Ranch. Gail Nishimoto, staff member at the Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources laboratory on campus, organized donations and gifts for Christmas stockings for nine residents at the Oak House, Progress Ranch.
• In addition to donating to the Davis Katrina Disaster Relief, arboretum staff donated to the community-wide food and gift drive during Thanksgiving.
• A student club, Help and Education Leading to Prevention, created a tutoring/mentoring program for kids in group homes and provided free meals during Thanksgiving to the local homeless and needy.
• Admissions staff member Alex Russell started "Angels with Fur" on campus three years ago. She rounds up warm blankets for dogs and this year arranged for blankets and treats for animals in all three shelters in the area.
• Operations and Maintenance collects toys each year for Toys for Tots of Yolo County. The department sets up bins and collects toys at the annual Holiday managers and supervisors meeting. In addition, the Office of Administration adopted a STEAC family this year as well.
• Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity completed an annual holiday food and money collection for the North American Food Drive. They collected an estimated 2,000 pounds of food.
• The Internship and Career Center bought a dishwasher for the Yolo Crisis Nursery.
• Students, faculty and staff in environmental design's Landscape Architecture, Design, and Geography Grad Group adopt a STEAC family each year and this year report a tremendous outpouring of response for a large, local family.

Gary Sandy is director of local government relations for UC Davis.