Campus Life

The Gift Of Giving: Texas A&M Mays Student Enlists Help To Brighten Children’s Holidays

December 11, 2017

Student in front of Christmas tree with card
Mays Business student Amanda Vigil is asking her fellow Aggies for help in sending holiday cards to patients at Texas Children’s Hospital.
By Breagan Adams, Texas A&M University Mays Business School

The holidays are approaching, and Texas A&M University student Amanda Vigil knows there is nothing better than the feeling that comes with putting a smile on someone’s face during the giving season.

From now until Dec. 14, Vigil, a university studies major in business, will be accepting holiday cards to distribute at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Her goal is to give 1,000 cards.

Vigil’s inspiration for the uplifting project came from her own experience of receiving holiday cards while undergoing surgeries as a child.

“I was born with a cleft lip and palate and have had roughly 12 surgeries on my mouth and face since the day I was born 21 years ago,” Vigil said.

As a 10-year-old in the hospital, she received countless cards from strangers wishing her a happy holiday. Since then, she has made holiday cards every year for the last 11 years in hopes that the children in the hospital will smile the same way she did.

For the past five years, Vigil has enlisted the help of her friends, family and fellow Aggies to help with the cause.

“My goal this year is to deliver 1,000 cards,” Vigil said. “I am confident that I will not only reach that goal, but surpass it.”

She has instituted a few rules regarding the cards:

  • No candy, since many children are on restrictive diets and can’t have sweets
  • No glitter glue
  • Small toys such as pencils, erasers and stickers are accepted
  • No envelope is required
  • No signature stating who the card is from is required, though many people like to write that the cards came from “Texas A&M students, professors, etc.”

To donate a card or get more information about the program, contact Vigil at amanda2778@tamu.edu.

 

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Media contact: Kelli Levey Reynolds, Mays Business School, 979-845-3167, kreynolds@mays.tamu.edu.

 

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