CREDIT: DEENA GRIFFIN
FSU President Ricardo Souza poses with donated gifts, 2020.

Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) has partnered with the Sharing Shop to help host their annual Adopt-A-Student Family holiday campaign. This charitable holiday campaign, which ran from Nov. 19 to Dec. 3 has been an annual tradition for the FSU. The program was originally organized to provide for families in the city however, starting last year, it became focused on helping families of Fanshawe students.

FSU’s Advertising Coordinator, Deena Griffin said the campaign has reached countless families over the years.

“We’ve been doing this Adopt-A-Family program for about 20 years, and we’ve reached out to families within the community and now, we’re reaching student families,” said Griffin. “And we’re using the Fanshawe Funder portal to help us crowdfund a little better and raise more funds to help these student families.”


One hundred per cent of all funds raised by Dec. 3 will be used to purchase necessities like food, warm clothes, and children’s toys for student families.

“So, on Dec. 3, we will choose the families that we are going to be able to support and we choose the families from the Sharing Shop,” said Griffin.

The Sharing Shop, operated through the FSU, is a service run by student volunteers, which provides full-time Fanshawe College students, in short-term need of assistance with grocery items and toiletries. They receive donations from students, staff and outside sources, enabling them to provide those items to students in need.

Last year, the FSU donated toys, clothes, books, groceries, hot meals, and many different necessities by raising a total of $2,200 for four families.

The FSU will determine the number of families that it can cater towards on the last day of the campaign.

“We choose the number of families to help depending on how much we raise,” said Griffin. “When we reach our end date, we can decide how many families we can help out.”

The FSU used to solicit donations from its business partners and suppliers, but the Fanshawe Funder program has been able to expedite that process since last year.

“We are very blessed to be able to have the Fanshawe Funder platform to help reach out to the community, alumni, businesses, staff and faculties,” said Griffin. “The pandemic has changed the way we used to fundraise but we’re very grateful to be able to find a way to donate and make this time of year a little more special for our families.”