BCCares spreads Christmas joy to persons with special needs

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
December 16, 2004

Briar Cliff University students, faculty and staff helped to spread a little Christmas joy at its annual BCCares Christmas party for mentally and physically challenged adult residents from Siouxland Residential Services, Mid-step Services and Opportunities Unlimited. The party was held on Dec. 9 in the St. Francis Center of the Stark Student Center at Briar Cliff in Sioux City.

Sister Janet May, director of campus ministry and BCCares, pointed out that the special guests are excited every year to come back "and they kind of expect you to remember their names."

About 100 residents with special needs attended this year's event.

Briar Cliff University students and employees served lunch to the guests.

Following lunch, "Santa" stopped by the university. He handed out gifts that were donated by organizations, students and employees of BCU.

Sister Janet wished that every BC student could be involved because it is such a joy-filled occasion. The visitors are generally very happy to see Santa and open presents.

"To see the excitement - it is like children getting gifts," she said. "They are a very spontaneous and open people."

The emotion is not left up to the special guests. Sister Janet mentioned that she has seen the event bring tears to the eyes of BC students.

Landon Pederson, BCCares special projects coordinator who is a junior from Cleghorn, organized the event. Mike Jensen, a sophomore from Council Bluffs, served as the assistant coordinator.

"I get a lot out of this - when you help others, you help yourself," said Jensen. "It's amazing what you can learn when you work with other people."

Last year, Jensen noted that he was merely a volunteer for the event and the positive experience spurred him to take on a greater role this year.

"This is a great opportunity to be able to work with people and to be able to give the rest of the students on campus the chance to help others, too," he said. "This is also a chance to help get the students into the Christmas spirit."

Knowing how much work was involved in organizing the party, Jensen commended fellow student Pederson for leading in the effort.

"It's wonderful to see so many students, faculty and staff who are involved in today's event," noted Bev Wharton, president of the university, who was also on hand for the Christmas party. "It's really important for them to have this opportunity to be in touch with the Siouxland community."

The Christmas party not only gave the students, faculty and staff exposure to people with special needs, Wharton added, but it also gave them a chance to serve others. In addition to those who were directly involved with serving lunch and handing out presents, she mentioned that numerous other individuals helped to make it success by donating Christmas presents.

In addition to purchasing Christmas presents, some opted to donate a dinner from their meal plans.

"It is a way for us to participate in the holiday spirit and you can do that in a variety of ways," she said.

Jensen mentioned that the Christmas presents range from clothes and music CDs to movies and stuffed animals.

"It's a lot of fun to go shopping for the gifts," he said.

Sister Shirley Fineran pointed out that the Christmas party is a BC tradition. The university was holding this event even before she came to the school in 1991.

"I think the interaction with the students is always a peak experience as well as the simplicity of the present," said Sister Shirley, who added that for some of these individuals with special needs, this is one of the few chances they have to celebrate the holidays. "Some of them don't have that many material things. This is a chance to rejoice with them in what the season is all about - to share and spread joy. It's good for our students to have this opportunity to interact with them."

Jana Bahrke, a senior who has volunteered at the party for three years, said she continues to help with the event because it is so much fun to see the faces of the guests, especially when Santa Clause hands out the gifts.

"They love coming up here and interacting with us, but we also love to see the smiles on their faces," she said. "It's always great to see how excited they are and how appreciative they are of our services."

BCCares is a club that provides volunteer opportunities to students. The club also gets involved with the community of Briar Cliff as well as the entire Siouxland community.

Sister Arnold Staudt played Christmas carols to conclude the celebration.