Changes to Giving Thanks(giving) approved for 10th anniversary
On Monday, Oct. 12, the Associated Students board approved funding for the revamped annual Giving Thanks(giving) charity event. The event will take place on Nov. 23 and 24 at SMC’s main campus with two time slots, 12:00 p.m.m to 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Students who seek to attend the event must reserve a time slot in advance through the SMC Foundation's website.
AS will contribute $38,000 to the $258,750 budget for this year’s event.
Since starting in 2017, the annual charity event has served thousands of students and their families each year. The SMC foundation expects to serve 3,000 students this year with a new format, according to planning documents reviewed by The Corsair.
“Thanksgiving was probably one of the hardest times for me ’cause I didn't know where I should go or who I should spend it with, but I was able to come to school,” said SMC Ambassador and Cheer Club President, Sophia Dawson Montalvo, who was involved in planning changes to the event.
“I participated in Giving Thanksgiving and was able to build a connection with some of my cheerleading friends. I thought it was very, very special,” she said.
SMC Foundation Dean Lizzy Moore said that this year’s event will return to its earlier format, where staff serves students, instead of the grocery store-style pickup in place since COVID.
“We have pivoted from offering groceries to providing a hot holiday meal to our students and the real essence of this is to promote community, togetherness, and a sense of belonging, those are the students' words, which I just loved to be able to articulate,” Moore said.
Students attending will receive a hot meal and entertainment such as live music, games, coloring, a photo booth, and more, according to the foundation's website.
Additionally, attendees this year will not be allowed to bring their families, according to the Q&A section on the Foundation’s website.
The previous year's charity gave groceries to the student’s entire families. To offset the changes to single meals for students, Moore said the Foundation is seeking funding to provide attendees with $50 gift cards for groceries, something that was started last year.
The event is expected to raise $280,000. Extra funds raised will be donated to the Department of Basic Needs, which oversees the Bodega food pantry program on campus.
At the AS finance meeting on Oct. 7, the foundation requested $60,000 reduced to $38,000 after some board members raised budget concerns and requested details on where their money would be spent. Moore said due to the funds being pooled together for events where there was no way to disclose what specific expense AS’s money would cover.
AS Director of Activities, Gregory Hawthorne asked Moore if the Foundation could purchase gift cards for future AS events, but Mitch Heskel, Dean of Education Enterprise, warned this could be a possible legal violation.
Heskel said AS donating to the Foundation with the expectation of gift cards in return would violate California state law banning the use of public funds to purchase gifts with transferable value.
“If your discomfort, which I continue to hear is the same thing, why don't we just pull the gift cards out of this budget altogether?” Moore said. Both sides agreed to reduce the requested amount from AS and Moore said she would find alternative means to fund the gift cards.
According to AS’s publicly available budget records, they have funded Giving Thanks(giving) since 2020.
AS’s budget documents show the first year the Foundation requested $25,000, from AS. The overall event costs $31,925 and served 653 students. Last year’s request for $50,000 contributed to the $169,000 total cost, which served 2,518 students. This year costs have again risen, but Moore hopes to serve more students than ever. According to event planning documents, the Foundation hopes to serve 3,000 students.