Mohawk's Advertising students and staff capped off an award-winning semester by giving back to Mountain Kidz in a big way. The nonprofit's annual Christmas dinner this Saturday will include 300 toys collected and donated by students and staff.   

"It's been tough year for many Hamiltonians and Kathy Archer of Mountain Kidz had warned me that demand for help was increasing, " says Wayne Aubert, the Advertising Program Coordinator who spearheads the annual toy drive. "We knew that we had our work cut out for us this year with a record request of 150 toys."

Third-year Advertising student Denis Spellen was the leader for the toy drive and worked with a student team on fundraising and classroom visits. The Advertising program joined forces with Mohawk's campus radio station INDI FM, with students writing and producing public service announcements to promote the toy drive. 

Also supporting the toy drive were Alegra Print, St Martin of Tours, students from Mohawk's postgraduate Public Relations program and students of Office Administration professor Janet Mannen, who personally matched student contributions.

"We're delighted that we exceeded our goal by 100 per cent and Mountain Kidz will make sure every toy finds a home," says Wayne. "When I gave the good news to Mountain Kidz, I learned that their dinners had all booked up for this Saturday and requests for help from the community were still coming in. We'll make a big difference this year."

Last month, Mohawk's Advertising program swept all six awards in the student categories at the Canadian Marketing Association's awards competition. Seven Mohawk Advertising students also won in the Applied Arts Student Awards Annual and Mohawk had two silver medal winners in the Advertising and Design Club of Canada Awards. Of the eight finalists, six were Mohawk students.

If you are able to make a donation a drop box has been set up in the main lobby of M Wing, which is located along Governor's Blvd just west of F Wing.