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Chemeketa Community College wants local residents to get stuffed this holiday season. Not on turkey and ham, but to donate stuffed bears in support of the Salem Police Department's Buddy Bear program.

"The drive continues through Dec. 28 and the bears are given out to traumatized children throughout the year," said Diane Sangster, a Chemeketa registration assistant and the project coordinator.

New, stuffed bears, at least 10 inches tall, can be donated at the Enrollment Center counter, upstairs in Building 2 on the Salem campus, 4000 Lancaster Drive N.E. This is the 14th year Chemeketa has served as a drop site for the program.

The stuffed bear drive is just one of several holiday outreach activities that Chemeketa students and staff participated in during the run-up to the holiday season.

At the beginning of fall term, Chemeketa registrar Minna Gelder jumpstarted a collection for the Oregon Department of Human Services and the Oregon Foster Parent Association.

Gelder started out collecting school supplies and back-to-school clothing, but has shifted her focus to holiday gifts as the winter season approached.

"I've been a foster parent myself and I know how much these kinds of things are needed. While foster parents do receive stipends to help support the kids, it often doesn't come close to what is required," said Gelder.

The foster care drive is continuing through the end of the month.

Chemeketa nursing packed up care packages for 60 Marines serving overseas during the holiday season. Dubbed "Operation Santa," the boxes included a variety of holiday-related items from candy and cookies to socks and hand-warmers.

"Each box also included a unique, hand-made stocking from a woman in Eugene who has been participating in the project for several years," said Connie Riecke, a Chemeketa instructional assistant and the project coordinator.

The boxes were shipped out before Thanksgiving to members of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Nursing students also collected coats that were donated to local shelters throughout the area.

The Juntos Coat Drive organizers recently delivered more than 80 different coats to three different low-income migrant communities in the vicinity of Salem: Colonia Libertad, Colonia Amanecer, and Colonia Amistad.

Chemeketa faculty and staff are distributing fifty $50 grocery gift certificates to local families struggling to make ends meet during the holiday season. The purchase of the gift certificates was supported by the school's annual holiday social. Recipient families are selected by Chemeketa faculty and staff.

Updated December 14, 2007 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.