‘Tis the season of giving at Germantown Academy. As the festivities grow nearer, the lingering question about presents and gifts starts popping up in everyone’s minds. Not only is the festive morale circulating through the school, but it also spreads to communities outside of Germantown Academy thanks to GA’s Community Service Organization (CSO).
Under the direction of co-directors Mr. Robert Moyer and Mr. Carlos Chubb, CSO organizes drives, makes charitable donations and serves several non-profit organizations and charities such as Gemma Services and the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard.
“There is no season for service,” Mr. Moyer said. “You don’t stop giving or start giving because it’s a particular season, right?”
In addition to the co-directors, Mr. Moyer and Mr. Chubb, CSO also consists of 12 Upper School senior leaders who connect and communicate with different non-profits such as Special Olympics and Cradles to Crayons, which are driven by Jianna Kim ‘24 and Winston Sun ‘24, respectively.
“It’s really good to see the communication between our school and other communities,” Winston Sun ‘24 said. “Working with Cradles to Crayons, I’m able to talk with staff members and people within that specific community and find out what their specific needs are.”
CSO organizes many initiatives around winter break, including the Thanksgiving Food Drive and the Make-A-Wish tournament, but one of the most uniting traditions is the annual holiday gift drive.
“The gift drive is really a staple of wintertime here at GA,” CSO Senior Leader Nathan Richards ‘24 said. “You get to see the whole community in one spot, all working towards a better cause, helping out others and helping each other in the process.”
Started by Mr. Peter McVeigh, GA’s annual Holiday Gift Drive has been going on for many years. CSO requests students from all divisions–Lower, Middle, and Upper School–to donate gifts, with each grade having a different organization to shop for. Once CSO gathers all the donations, the presents are delivered to different organizations.
“The day of the holiday program, we have all these CSO volunteers to help pack presents, put them into bags and into the vans,” Mr. Chubb said. “From our community, the feedback is positive, and from the organizations, they are extremely, extremely grateful and it’s very enriching to see how they express gratitude.”
Richards credits the success of the gift drive to teamwork.
“When Mr. Moyer needs us, I know we’ll be as helpful as we can in any way Mr. Moyer and the rest of CSO needs us,” Richards said. “We’re like one big machine and it’s not just one person that’s behind the scenes doing everything.”
The organization has impacted dozens of organizations and communities outside the academy and will continue to contribute to the holiday spirit with this year’s Holiday Gift Drive. CSO’s efforts extend beyond the holiday season, reminding the GA community of the lasting power of service.
“Believe it or not, there are some organizations that get overwhelmed with so many gifts that they have to store them,” Mr. Chubb said.
For Mr. Moyer and CSO, the Holiday Gift Drive is more than just a program–it’s a tradition that embodies GA’s commitment to helping others through service.
“It’s one of the long-standing service traditions at GA and so we continue that proudly,” Mr. Moyer said. “Through that small act of kindness, we hope to make as many people’s holiday seasons better as possible.”