On a day where the temperature high was in the 40s and most would want to avoid the chilly weather, WT students braved the cold in order to gather toys for CASA’s third annual “Stuff the Bus” campaign.

CASA, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, holds this toy drive every year outside of the Westgate Mall in Amarillo. The campaign is dedicated towards ensuring that children across Amarillo receive a present under their Christmas tree. During the weeklong event, CASA teams up with local radio station FM 99.7 to collect gifts from the people of Amarillo.

This year, two WT student organizations, Enactus and the Black Student Union Association, teamed up with CASA to make this campaign as successful as possible.

Crystal Gonzales, a junior social work major and Enactus member, said that CASA was a cause that they wanted to benefit this year.

“[Amarillo’s] foster care system is much larger than anyone realizes, and we just wanted to bring out and supply manpower for this campaign,” Gonzales said. “We really wanted to make a difference in these kids lives.”

Enactus decided to team up with CASA because of the local impact the campaign would have.

“Everything is localized,” said Ryan Francis, a sophomore psychology major and member of Enactus. “Every toy we help collect goes to a kid in this area and goes towards making their holidays a little bit happier.”

For many in the Black Student Union Association, the decision to help out was personal.

“A lot of us in the association aren’t necessarily from Amarillo, but most of us come from an inner city,” said Derreon Buchanan, a senior mechanical engineering major and president of the Black Student’s Union Association. “We know the struggle these kids go through, and we feel like we need to help in any way we can in order to give these kids a shot at a better life.”

This year, CASA’s goal was to collect over 1,000 toys for children, and according to CASA’s Director of Recruitment, Kelsi Vines, this goal couldn’t have been met without the help of local college students.

“We have around 88 community volunteers who are advocating on behalf of the children in local foster care right now,” Vines said. “We’ve been out here every day this week, hoping to raise over 1,000 toys for these foster kids, and every day, we’ve had tons of support from volunteers, primarily students from Amarillo College and West Texas A&M University.”

As the drive came to a close, Vines reported that their goal of 1,000 toys was easily exceeded.

“If we can make Christmas a little bit brighter and provide a sense of normalcy for these kids, then we’ve succeeded,” Vines said. “I think that can be so important to show these kids that they can get a Christmas gift, just like their peers. This season is going to be really difficult for them and to just be able to have the same toy that a peer got, that makes them feel a little bit more normal.”