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Pellissippi State student association sponsors Toys for Tots
Karen Ghezawi has firsthand knowledge of how hard Christmas can
be for some children.
“One year,” she said, “when my mother and father
split up and Mother was trying to get back on her feet, if it
hadn’t been for the Empty Stocking Fund, we wouldn’t
have had a Christmas.”
Now Ghezawi, a Pellissippi State employee, is passionate about
helping children in need.
Every year, the Pellissippi State student chapter of the Association
of Information Technology Professionals collects for Toys for
Tots—and for the past 14 or so Christmas seasons, Ghezawi
has taken part.
“Toys for Tots is near and dear to my heart,” said
Ghezawi, who works in the Physical Plant. “This all goes
to local children and helps a child who otherwise wouldn’t
have a Christmas.”
The AITP chapter is accepting new, unwrapped toys November 19-December
7, says Pellissippi State faculty sponsor Gitti Negahban, and
the public is encouraged to donate.
Thousands of East Tennessee children—more precisely, 15,000-20,000—will
receive something from Toys for Tots this Christmas, says Sgt.
Guillermo Lara, coordinator of Toys for Tots at the Marine Corps
Recruitment Center on Alcoa Highway.
Toys for Tots collects presents for a wide range of ages, from
babies to 15-year-olds, with older children served on a case-by-case
basis. The groups most likely to be forgotten, says Lara, are
1- and 2-year-olds and teenagers 12 and up. Ideal gifts, he says,
are board games, inexpensive MP3 players, makeup kits, blow-dryers
and bath and body sets.
Donations to Pellissippi State’s AITP chapter may be dropped
off at any of the four campus locations:
Pellissippi Campus (10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville)
Alexander Building: 108
Goins Building: 204, 162, 255
Educational Resources Center: entrance
McWherter Building: 149A, 149C, 234, 252, 254
Physical Plant
Division Street Campus (3435 Division Street, Knoxville)
Room 101
Blount County Center (Middlesettlements Road, Alcoa)
Front office
Magnolia Avenue Campus (1601 East Magnolia Avenue, Knoxville)
Front office
For more information, contact Gitti Negahban at 694-6467 or Karen
Ghezawi at 694-6618.
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