A Festive Night at Barkley.

Last week, we partnered with the Students of Color for Public Health (SCPH) to put on the annual Barkley Holiday Party for the children of the Ruth Barkley Housing Development just a few blocks from campus. Chrystel, the President of SCPH summed up the party perfectly in a recent interview, “We’re coming together to create a safe space for the kids to be able to celebrate the holidays, and if for whatever reason, some families don’t have the resources to buy gifts themselves, we make sure that every child within Barkley housing has a present.”

The idea for this amazing event came 5 years ago when an MPH candidate saw an opportunity to build a bridge. She wanted the SCPH to connect with the residents of the Ruth Barkley Apartments for 2 main reasons; 1) because she recognized that residents at Barkley are our neighbors and that it should be a priority for students at SPH to engage with the community, and 2) because she grew up in Massachusetts public housing and experienced first-hand the need, especially around the holidays. Between fundraising and toy drives, some help from Toys for Tots, and a pot puck holiday feast, a tradition was born.

The party has grown and evolved every year since. This year brought several new community partners to our merry band of volunteers and sponsors.  BU Catering provided gorgeous sugar cookies that the kids marveled at, if only briefly, before devouring. The Walgreens on Washington Street donated all of the wrapping paper we needed to make the gifts for the children an extra layer of excitement. We received a donation of pizza with the help of Webb Lancaster, a former BU employee with close ties to the university, from two local Domino’s restaurants owned by David Jenks and Dominic Benvenuti. And this is just a few of the many contributions we received. The Barkley Holiday party is a perfect example of what “community engagement” is at SPH.

It was a night filled with laughter, joy, and holiday spirit.

This success stems from great partners, the managers at Barkley, our sponsors, and countless volunteers who helped us make sure the party for more than 230 children went off without a hitch. But our work isn’t quite finished yet.

We are just shy of our fundraising goal, and even though the party has passed, there is still plenty of time to donate!

Thank you for your continued support. And from all of us at the Activist Lab, happy holidays!