Meet Professor Paul Herrle, holiday angel incognito
Contact: K.C. Brekken, Communications Manager, (702) 651-7535
Friday, November 13, 2009
Many of CSN’s neediest students have children and over the last three years, CSN Psychology Professor Paul Herrle has worked with the College community to ensure those little ones have a happier holiday season.
In 2007 he began the Holiday Angel Program, which allows CSN volunteers to anonymously fulfill the wishes of a child in need – like a real holiday angel.
“If you want to be an Angel, we’ll match you with a specific child. You’ll be given that child’s gender and age as well as some gift suggestions and clothing sizes. Then you’ll simply buy a gift or two and bring them back to campus by finals week so they can be distributed to that child’s mom or dad for the holidays,” Herrle said. “The CSN student can then give that gift to his or her child, from Santa, from the parents, however they choose.”
This is the third year of the Holiday Angel Program, which so far has distributed more than 800 presents to 230 children. Herrle began the program, modeling a similar concept from Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, where he previously taught.
“There was a need,” he said. “This was an effort to breakdown the barrier between faculty, staff and students and it comes from the idea that we are all on the same side. All of our goals are exactly the same. Seeing us as part of the same community was the idea.”
The program has grown over the last three years and Herrle said he was surprised that even in these economic times, CSN has had more angel volunteers this year than ever before.
Even more heartwarming, he noted, was that a student who has received gifts for her children during the first two years of the program, volunteered this year to be an angel. “She volunteered to give back because her family has found itself in a better position,” he said.
Important to the program’s success has been the support of CSN colleagues and students, such as Student Affairs Specialist Laura Cortez, who Herrle praised as a huge supporter. She coordinates the distribution of gifts to selected family members at the Charleston campus. Each of CSN’s three campuses has a coordinator, who also helps match student applications to volunteers.
The CSN Dance Club and the brand new CSN Spirit Team this year have volunteered to purchase gifts for multiple children. Classified Council has also always been helpful, providing gift cards for the families, he said.
That no child ever knows they are the recipient of the Holiday Angel Program is one of its best secrets, Herrle added. “We want the CSN student to be able to give the gift their child wants as if it came from themselves.”
To volunteer to be an angel, contact Paul Herrle at paul.herrle@csn.edu.
