Gift of Giving: Boston-area alumni make Foster Children’s Holiday Party a lasting tradition

Santa Claus gets a Jumbo-sized welcome from the women’s basketball team.

Members of the Foster Children’s Holiday Party Committee (front row (l - r): Dan Kaplan, A96; Matt Dunn, AG95; Lisa Richtmann, J87; Cameron Archibald, A10; (back row l-r): Gretchen Biesecker, A01; Marilyn Smith, DSS foster parent; Scott Reed, E79; Christine Conlon, J93; Jonathan Burton, staff member, Advancement Division.

December 10, 2007--Stuffed with arts and crafts activities, books and toys, refreshments (including pizza and ice cream), and even a visit from Santa Claus, the annual Foster Children’s Holiday Party hits all the right notes with children and adults – and this year was no exception.

Spirits were characteristically high on December 2 when more than 100 children from area foster homes and dozens of alumni turned out for the 20th anniversary of this popular community-minded event.

Alumni play a key part in making the party a success. Jonathan Burton collaborated with alumni on the holiday event during his six years as Tufts’ associate director of alumni relations for student, young alumni, and reunion programs.

 “The kids enjoy this event immensely, which in turn, rewards those who have taken a break from busy schedules to volunteer,” he said. “The students who pitch in are giving their time during what can generally be a stressful point in the semester.  In some ways, I think this is a welcome distraction that connects people more personally in spirit to the ‘giving season.’ The communal feeling of helping to spread holiday cheer is very satisfying. I think that explains why so many turn out to help every year.”

Co-sponsored by the Tufts University Alumni Association, the Boston Tufts Alliance, the Association of Tufts Alumnae, and the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the party brings together foster families served by the Division of Social Services offices in Malden, Cambridge and Arlington. Since 1988, alumni have helped host this popular holiday party, traditionally held in Alumnae Lounge on the first Sunday in December.  

“It provides a nice outlet at the holidays for a group of children who haven’t always had the easiest time,” said one of the organizers, Daniel Kaplan, A96, who in recent years has shared chairing the party with Scott Reed, E79.

“From a Tufts community standpoint, it is a nice way to bring together alumni, students, and faculty, people who don’t always get together on a regular basis,” he said. “On gift-wrapping night, people get to connect and reconnect.”

Benefactors of the holiday party’s success over the years have included two North Shore toy companies, New England Doll & Novelty in Lynnfield, Mass., and Schylling Toys in Rowley, Mass., which have provided toys and games as the children’s holiday gifts. Attorney Irwin Heller, A67, A98P, and his Boston law firm, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, contribute more than half the operating costs of the event each year. The Alden Trust has established a fund that annually provides several hundred dollars for the event, in perpetuity.

One Santa was sadly missed at the 20th anniversary party. The Rev. Richard Kimball, A56, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., for many years a fixture in the role of St. Nick, passed away in June. “He was such a gentle, nice guy,” Kaplan said of the late Unitarian-Universalist minister, who served congregations in Essex and other Massachusetts communities. “He had a good outlook on life and a big interest in children and in helping people.”