RUPD hosts toy drive for hospital

By Tina Nazerian     1/9/13 6:00pm

Many Houston area children received a special gift this Christmas season. From Nov. 4 to Dec. 12, the Rice University Police Department sponsored a toy drive for Shriners Hospital for Children.

Chief of Police Johnny Whitehead had the idea and wanted a program that involved Rice and the greater Houston community, RUPD Sgt. Thomas Hudak said.

"The community outreach program is a vision from [Whitehead], and when he spoke to the sergeants at a leadership meeting, he brought up that he would like to see a community outreach that not only was for the Rice community, but [also for] ... the community outside the hedges," Hudak said.

---

---

Shriners Outreach Manager Carrie Holmstrom gave a talk to RUPD, which was considering multiple hospitals, Hudak said.

"[Holmstrom] came in and gave her testimony, and it was powerful, and she was inspirational, to say the least. And so we knew that the toy drive for Shriners was the direction we were being led to," Hudak said.

There were about 200 donations, mainly from students, Hudak said.

Lovett College Outreach Coordinator Matthew Hernandez said he thinks toy drives like this are important because they give people joy.

"[They give] people something to be happy about and something to look forward to, they might not have a lot of other things to look forward to," Hernandez, a sophomore, said.

Whitehead said RUPD is glad they worked with Shriners.

"We appreciate the opportunity to partner with the Shriners Hospital for Children," Whitehead said. "The work they do for children is amazing and a blessing."

Hudak said wants the toy drive to become a tradition at Rice.

"We hope that this will become a storied tradition that Rice can be a part of for many years to come," Hudak said.

`

---