Inside the Beckerman Recreation Center, there is a box where students and staff can donate small and large children’s toys for kids in the area. This is part of Toys for Tots, hosted by the Marine Corps. and there are boxes around campus with the help of the university’s VA Work Study Program.
Vinny Franco, student veterans outreach coordinator of the university’s VA Work Study Program and junior legal studies major, said, “The [VA Work Study Program] this year decided that we wanted to get involved, so the department basically asked the Marine Corps if we could be a spot to collect. And then from there we just started getting more involved with it.”
Franco said that he was a Marine and the group being part of the local community through this donation initiative was “awesome” and that he still has “a lot of pride towards the organization.”
Franco also said, “Even though I’m not uniform anymore, I’m still very proud of being a Marine, so I decided that I can still help my community and be associated a little bit with the Marine Corps.”
Joshua Wyskiewicz, member of the VA Work Study Program and junior homeland security major, helped Franco coordinate the donation initiative on campus. Wyskiewicz said he was surprised at the support this initiative has been receiving.
“Everybody’s been supporting, it’s just been way more than I think many or I have been expecting,” said Wyskiewicz.
Wyskiewicz also said the boxes on campus received between 50 – 100 toys.
Franco said this was pleasantly unexpected because “whenever you see these boxes [at] Walmart or something like that, there will be like four or five toys thrown into it. And right now, the university is absolutely crushing it, so it’s exciting to see.”
Franco also said it was meaningful to see so many university students donating toys, which will be given to children in towns such as West Haven, New Haven and Bridgeport.
“We just really didn’t want children in our community on these holidays [to wake] up to nothing,” said Franco. “Giving back to my community is something that I always love to do.”
Franco and Wyskiewicz said another community outreach initiative is a Military Appreciation Night scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 6 at Bridgeport’s Total Mortgage Arena.
“A large amount of the veterans on campus [will be] the ones that are actually going to be unfolding the flag,” said Wyskiewicz. “They also are doing a special deal with us on selling the university tickets to other veterans and whoever else wants to come at a highly discounted price, and we’re going to all sit in one section of the arena all together. Then they’re going to give us shout-outs and stuff like that.”
There is a link for anyone to purchase tickets at $18 to go to the game and support fellow military veterans.
And for the Toys for Tots donations, you can donate toys until Dec. 10.
