Each year, University of Dayton students welcome hundreds of Dayton-area school children to their Christmas on Campus event.
Started in 1964, the special day has grown to become one of the country’s largest community service campus projects and now involves three-fourths of the school’s undergraduates.
Christmas on Campus is an annual celebration held each December on the University of Dayton campus. It is a hallmark event symbolizing the Catholic and Marianist tradition of the University of Dayton. The event is planned for Dec. 7 this year.
“We bus in around 1,200 first- and second-graders from Dayton Public Schools. Each child is adopted by a UD student for the night,” explains Jessica Nelson, who is working on this year’s event. “There are different activities through multiple academic buildings and our RecPlex.”
A tree-lighting ceremony kicks off the evening, which includes crafts, singing and dancing, a visit from Santa.
The students are once again in need of just the right tree for the celebration and are hoping one of our Dayton Daily News readers will be able to fill the bill. They require a tree that is fairly full, at least 30-feet tall, and a member of the spruce family.
“The tree will be picked up the last week in November or the first week in December,” says Nelsen, a junior education member, who is serving on the decorations committee. She says services are provided by Dayton Tree Specialist.
The donor, she says, will receive two seats for the Christmas on Campus Mass.
If you have a tree you think would work and are willing to donate it, you’re asked to send photos and information about your tree to decorationscoc@gmail.com
You can also call (937) 229-3483, leave your name, number and information about your tree.