West Mifflin students give back at holiday time
They participated in a gift drive to help children in need.
Several students at West Mifflin Area Middle School loaded up a truck full of presents that were delivered to kids in the community. Courtesy of Stacy Galiyas
There are several ways the West Mifflin Area School District community, teachers and students have been giving back to the community this holiday season.
Assistant superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Solomon cited the Titan Shoppe, a combination coffee shop and maker-space that manufactures West Mifflin merchandise.
“Some of the students designed the online Titan Shoppe by putting pictures and descriptions on there,” Solomon said. “This is the second year in a row where we’ve had a holiday sale, they changed the format online, it’s pretty cool.”
All the proceeds from the Titan Shoppe go back into the club itself, and if there is extra money, it goes toward student government for them to give out to their students.
“This is a great place to buy any holiday gifts because there are prices, and it’s still good quality. The prices are very reasonable, so we have some additional holiday things on there,” Solomon said. “This is student leadership at its best.”
This year, for the first time ever, they are doing Titan Thyme, which includes the advanced culinary students having their own catering company. They are creating cookie platters for the holidays.
Stacy Galiyas, health and physical education teacher at the middle school, is also in charge of the Titan Tree of Giving and the Holiday Gift Drive, which assists students in need of presents this Christmas.
Galiyas helps with a lot of the fundraising, and alongside Bree Thompson, they run the gift drive where there was an Amazon wish list for the kids.
“We saw so many toys being donated, and they were great, but realistically, it wasn’t stuff our kids here would use,” Thompson said. “These kids are in middle school, and there was nothing that we were collecting that they could use, something they would be excited to get. We just wanted it to be more personal, and we wanted to get them something they would really be excited about.”
The gift drive at the middle school began three years ago with Galiyas and Thompson working together, and it has progressed ever since.
Items were dropped off this year from Dec. 1-15. They were looking for thoughtful gifts, $10 to $25 gift cards, new socks, hats, gloves and blankets. They got more than 300 gifts this year, and they try to distribute them equally among the children in each family.
“We wanted to make it more individualized for the students that are in need because we would get lots of toys donated, but in reality, a lot of our students just need underwear, winter coats, hats, bedding and personal hygiene items,” Galiyas said.
The Tree of Giving is the Angel Tree version of the Titan Toy Drive. They make a wish list for all the kids in need, according to Galiyas, and they did smaller Angel Trees and toy drives in the past.
The community, students, teachers and administrators donate gifts, and they get money from the administration. They go shopping based on students’ wish lists.
“Unfortunately, a lot of it is necessities,” Galiyas said. “It can be kind of sad, but it can also be great to get them things. We always try to get two things that they need, and one to two things that they wished for.”
Thompson, a math teacher at the middle school, said the drive has been going well, adding that the principals and teachers are a big help every year.
“The community never disappoints me, and they go big for their kids here,” she said. “We always get so many great people that donate money for us to shop or donate big ticket items.
“It will just give you goosebumps some of these kids’ stories. It’s so sad, and there’s such great, nice kids. So we just want to do it for them and make sure they get a little bit of magic for Christmas.”
This year, two teachers bought a bike for a child that was homeless. This was the first time he had a home to go to with a road for him to ride his bike, Galiyas said.
Several students helped organize and wrap the gifts, which Galiyas said was a big undertaking since they had 48 kids this year, but it’s well worth it and something the students enjoy doing.
Thompson said a lot of students forget that there are kids right next to them that have nothing, and this drive is a good way to remind them of that.
“It brings another perspective to the kids. A lot of the kids come down to help us, and its nice to show them how to give back,” Thompson said. “They love getting involved in collecting the gifts, wrapping and organizing them. I love teaching them to do things like that, and seeing them participate in the reward they get in giving back to the community.”
Galiyas said the names of those receiving the gifts aren’t disclosed, but students helping wrap the presents got to hear a bit about the students they are helping.
“It opens the (students’) minds that not every kid goes home to the same thing, and it’s a great way to teach them about disparities that go on in the world, and how to help others,” she added. “They really take pride in getting to be a part of it.”
Gifts were wrapped and delivered last week. Galiyas and a couple other teachers distribute the presents in a box truck during the school day so the kids do not know if a parent needed help this holiday season.
Galiyas said this is the ultimate way to fill her cup every year, and if it weren’t for what they do to help these kids, they wouldn’t have a Christmas.
“It’s just awesome. It’s a really great thing that we do, and the community shows up, always. It is really magical, and you don’t hear a lot of feel-good stories,” Galiyas added. “It also brings our staff members together as well. Everything that we do at the middle school, we rally together and help each other out. It creates a great sense of teamwork and pride when we work together and accomplish something like this.”
More about each organization can be found at:
• Titan Shoppe: titanshoppe@ wmasd.org.
• Titan Thyme Catering: https://www.wmasd.org/titanthyme. aspx.
