Community Council partnered with New Directions For Youth (NDFY) to hold a toy drive Dec. 8 and 9. NDFY is a youth development agency providing critically needed services to more than 200,000 youth in the Los Angeles area, according to their website.

Community Council set up a table on the Quad, complete with holiday decorations and a fake snow machine, where students could buy and donate toys. Students also had the option to purchase toys at the bookstore.

Assistant bookstore manager Kijana Core said he enjoys seeing students come in to pick out presents, and it is one of his most favorite parts of the year.

“As we start coming up to the toy drive, kids start coming in more with their friends to buy teddy bears and [other pre-wrapped] gifts,” Core said. “[The drive] was one of my favorite parts of last year.”

Community Council member Sydney Carmel ’23 said  the toy drive was planned to inspire students to give back to those around them.

“We are just trying to help as many kids as possible and give them the best Christmas and the holidays yet,” Carmel said. “We hope that the students will reflect on their favorite childhood toys and gifts and want to share them with the kids we are helping.”

Helena Wu ’23, who donated to the drive, said she felt encouraged by her friends on Community Council to participate.

“In the spirit of Christmas and the holidays in general, I thought it would be nice to donate to children in need,” Wu said. “I thought Community Council had a good cause, and I was happy to support them.”

Community Council member Malia Yap ’24 said  all of the hard work to organize the drive paid off as many toys were donated to children in need.

“We were able to get a lot of donations from a bunch of different students, so it was a huge success,” Yap said. “I love working with everyone else in Community Council because we’re a great cohesive team, and it’s really rewarding to see events like [the toy drive] come to fruition.”