Dallas ISD gives from the heart
In Dallas ISD, team members, students and families come together at the end of the year to share with others who might need help or a little extra cheer. Their generosity makes it possible for children and adults to stay warm, to have extra food, or to get the toys and gifts they wish for to celebrate the end-of-year holidays. Below are several examples of the Dallas ISD community’s generosity.
W.H. Adamson High School
W.H. Adamson High School held its 16th Annual Toy Drive—“Santa’s Workshop”—In the spirit of “paying it forward.” The Adamson Leopard PTO members, students, and employees are involved in planning the annual toy drive. Adamson’s former community liaison, Maria Garcia, began the workshop for families in need 15 years ago. Each year since 2008, Adamson High School continues to host more than 200 families, including gifting almost 400 children with presents and food for the holiday season. The Adamson band plays live Christmas music, members of the choir sing holiday tunes, the Leopardettes Drill Team greet families as they walk in, and families get to enjoy the event and have photo ops with Santa Claus. Thanks go to the Adamson Alumni Association, Adamson PTO, Adamson Athletics, Oak Cliff community partners, and Community Liaison/Event Coordinators Mayra Quinones and JC Puebla for continuing to make this event possible every year.
Sudie L. Williams TAG Academy
Students organized a toy drive to support the incredible work of Community Partners of Dallas, collecting donations for abused and neglected children in the community. Thanks to the generosity of Sudie Williams families, we were able to contribute a variety of items that will bring joy and comfort to these children during the holiday season.
Edwin J. Kiest Elementary School
“Winter Wonders” is an event created by the school’s counselor after noticing that students needed winter accessories, coats, and even socks. Snowflake ornaments were placed on the school’s tree and staff could take one or more. Each snowflake listed an item needed in the clothing drive. For example: “Please purchase three pairs of gloves in sizes for students in second grade and younger.” Staff were asked to bring their donation back to campus by Dec. 12 and everyone at the campus was excited to share holiday joy in the form of staying warm and cozy this winter.
David G. Burnet Elementary School
The school’s Student Lighthouse Committee organized a winter clothing drive to collect hats and mittens for both adults and children with all donations benefiting Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support. They also hosted two annual drives to support different organizations. One is a pet food drive benefiting Operation Kindness, which has become a yearly tradition. Last year, we introduced a personal hygiene drive to assist the school’s local high school.
Maria Moreno STEAM Academy
This school is all about giving during the holidays. Every year, the school collects gifts and clothes for a small group of students experiencing homelessness, death of a parent, or extreme poverty. Some staff have sponsored children along with a local car club, but there are still several students who need support and benefit from this effort.
Moreno also holds a Giving Week during which the school collects items for Skyline Nursing Center, the local nursing home. This year, the school is collecting pajama bottoms, body wash and deodorant, blankets, hats, gloves, along with apples, oranges, and candy canes.
Special Services Parent Engagement and Community Outreach Department
This December marks the second year the Special Services Department has proudly participated in the Be An Angel Christmas Program: Spreading Holiday Joy, a heartwarming initiative that brings holiday cheer to special needs children in Dallas ISD. Students in Specialized Programs were nominated by their teachers to participate, ensuring the program reaches those who will benefit most. Volunteers shopped for personalized gifts for each child, creating a magical holiday experience tailored to their unique interests and needs. While challenges like tight timelines and coordinating logistics arise, the joy and gratitude from families make every effort worthwhile. This program, in its second year, highlights the power of compassion and community, reminding us of the true spirit of the season.
Nancy Moseley Elementary School
The school held a canned food drive to provide canned goods to The Stew Pot. More than 1,200 cans were collected in a competition involving all the grade levels. Two FLS classes raised the most cans and won the competition to give back to our community.
Irma Lerma Rangel Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School
The school has a student angel tree that team members pick from every year to help support students by giving them needs and wants like clothes and gift cards as well as a toy drive for the employees to give to homeless students in Dallas ISD. The school started this two to three years ago and selects a different recipient for the employee toy drive each year.
Martha Turner Reilly Elementary School
Each year the school hosts an annual Giving Tree to help families that may face challenges during the holiday season. It is a chance for the community and our employees to share the heart of giving with our very own students. This school year, we plan to help over 40 families.
Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy
The House of Altruismo hosted a schoolwide canned food drive in support of the North Texas Food Bank. Through the generous contributions of our community, we were able to collect nearly 400 pounds of non-perishable items. These donations will help close the hunger gap and provide much needed assistance to families in North Texas during this holiday season.
W.W. Samuell High School National Honor Society
W.W. Samuell’s chapter of the National Honor Society held its annual winter clothing and canned food drive. This year’s collection was the largest ever with over 2,000 items donated. All donations go to Inspired Vision Compassion Center, a nonprofit food bank serving families here in Pleasant Grove.
Alex Sanger Preparatory School
The sixth-grade soccer club students sacked 150 snack bags for the homeless community. They also collected several clothing items that will be donated to White Rock Center of Hope. This is the first time Sanger participates in the activity, but the club sponsor has done it since 2016 at previous schools.
Family and Community Engagement
On Dec. 12, the Family & Community Engagement Dept hosted a toy drive as part of their Winter Expo event. Community Liaisons and Parent Instructors from across the district donated a huge box of toys benefitting the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. DCAC provides a safe place for children and their families to begin the healing process after experiencing criminal child abuse or witnessing a violent crime. The staff was very grateful as they expect to provide holiday gifts to over 1,500 children living in Dallas County. We are so glad to be able to collaborate and help make the holidays brighter for some special kiddos!
Communication Services
Communications Services once again has adopted a school for the holidays, a tradition that Translation Services started a few years ago and has now become a departmentwide effort. The department wanted to help make the holidays a little brighter for a few students and chose H.I. Holland Elementary School, where an entire second-grade bilingual classroom will receive gift cards to fulfill the needs and wishes of 10 girls and eight boys who have 98% attendance. The gift cards will be delivered before winter break during a festive hot cocoa and donut party.
Resource Centers
Resource Center South had a toy drive and hundreds of toys were collected through the beginning of December for the community. Resource Center West and Resource Center South both also planned food giveaways for families of Dallas ISD students for the holidays.
