This year the Christmases of children living in low income areas of D.C. might be a little brighter thanks to Georgetown’s Angel Tree book drive. Stephanie Navarro (CAS ‘07), this year’s coordinator, hopes that the number of books collected will exceed last year’s total of 1,400.
Navarro, who has directed the drive for the past three years, said that Angel Tree has so far collected 500 books from trees located all across campus in the ICC Galleria, the Law Center, and the Medical Center.
The Angel Tree project has come a long way since its inception in 2000, when Alice Norris, Executive Officer of Regulatory Affairs at the Medical Center, first conceived of the idea.
In the fall of 2000, Norris and the then current Provost, Dr. Dorothy Brown, thought that the Christmas trees around Georgetown could do more for the community than simply add holiday spirit. Norris suggested that the trees could be the vehicle for donating children’s books to promote reading in D.C. schools. Participants select a tag from a tree, buy a book suitable for the age group of the recipient listed and deposit the wrapped book in the box beside any Angel Tree.
ESCAPE Program Coordinator Samantha Buchan, who will deliver the books once they have been wrapped, recalled last year’s visit to Young Elementary School in northeast D.C. with the Georgetown men’s basketball team.
“They were asking the team for autographs and were genuinely happy with their books,” she said.
Initially collecting a modest 355 books, the drive has steadily grown through the contribution of the students in the John Carroll Scholars Program, as well as the Provost’s Office and the President’s Office. Norris expressed enthusiasm for the success of the drive.
“I wanted it to be a student project from the very start, and I was very happy to see them take it over,” she said.
Navarro said that book recipients, far from lacking the desire to further their knowledge, are simply short of money.
“This is our way of providing resources to help them achieve the goals that they have,” she said.
In order to promote the drive during upcoming weeks, students from the Angel Tree project will host “Grinch Fest” in the Village C Alumni Lounge. The event yielded more than $300 for extra books last year.
The Georgetown Bookstore is offering a 20 percent discount on all children’s books until the book drive ends on Dec. 4.
