With the jingling of spare change and seven hundred cans of food, students at the UA have gotten into the holiday spirit.

Service-oriented clubs, dorms, and the Greek system are participating in many holiday activities sponsored by the Student Program's Center for Service Learning.

Programs such as Angel Tree, Adopt a Family, Holiday Food Drive, and the KRQ 93.7 Christmas List, top the agenda of UA students' volunteering activities.

The Angel Tree promotion, set up in the main hall of the

Student Union, provides Christmas gifts for needy children. An Angel from the Christmas tree is selected stating the clothing size of a needy boy or girl. The items specified are purchased and brought back to the Angel Tree. The Salvation Army then distributes the gifts to the families.

The UA's goal for adopted angels was 250 last year, said nursing sophomore Jocelyn Melms, one of the 12 project volunteers from the Center for Service Learning. "We decided to double this year's goal because of all the support we have received for the program. People have been so willing to adopt an angel I'm sure we will meet our goal of 500 presents collected."

With the UA contribution, the Angel Tree program will help about two thousand families, said Captain William Dickens, coordinator for the Salvation Army.

"The UA has been very helpful with the Angel Tree program," he said. "It's wonderful to see how involved the students and staff have been."

Dickens said the Salvation Army will take the donated gifts and set up their own toy store allowing the parents to pick two gifts per child. As the parents leave the simulated toy store they are given a box of food for a complete Christmas dinner.

Adopt a Family also helps with providing Christmas dinners and gifts for individual needy families.

"Organizations, service-oriented clubs and the Greek system have been the major supporters of the Adopt a Family program", said Melms. "With their help the UA was able to sponsor seventy-five families."

The program provides the adopted family with a Christmas tree with decorations, the fixings for a complete Christmas dinner, and presents for the family members.

Scott Terrell, president of the Honors Student Association, whose club adopted a single parent family with three children, said "The experience of providing a family with a holiday, that they would not have had otherwise, really made everyone involved appreciate their own holiday so much more."

The holiday season has inspired a friendly competition between the residence halls and the Greek system for the most donations of non-perishable food. The items collected will be given to Volunteer Food Partners if not otherwise directed to another organization.

The residence hall, sorority or fraternity with the most donations will be awarded a plaque in appreciation for their efforts in the food drive.

With spare change from students, staff and faculty, a wish from KRQ's wish list will be granted. Thirty decorated holiday donation cans were placed in the student union and residence halls.

Amanda Edwards, finance and international business senior and program director of the Christmas Wish Fund, said "The response to the wish list fund has been great. In one day from the

Student Union forty-five dollars was collected in spare change."

"My roommate and I cry every morning when we listen to KRQ grant a wish from their list," she said. "It will be great hearing the wish that I helped grant for a family in need.

"Having the wish that the UA granted for a family read over the radio would also let those who contributed know that their spare change did add up and helped a family over the holidays."