Cunningham: Change from Family Giving Tree donation campaign possible in future year

The office Giving Tree, tags completed and gifts delivered.

Following a printing mishap that limited students’ chances to donate gifts, leadership aims to collaborate with a wider variety of non-profit charity organizations.

The Leadership class and activities director Kristen Cunningham are exploring alternative organizations as possible future recipients for the school’s annual holiday gift drive.

In the past, the district has partnered with Family Giving Tree, a nonprofit that organizes annual gift drives for underprivileged children and adults.

Cunningham said the district is weighing a possible switch from Family Giving Tree to the One Warm Coat Drive, taking a break from Family Giving Tree or even participating in both starting next year.

Cunningham, who has managed the school’s participation in Family Giving Tree since 2021, requests 400 to 500 Christmas tree tags for LGSUHSD every year from the organization.

This year, Foothill Elementary, Redwood Middle and Argonaut Elementary had requested 75, 25 and 50 tags, respectively. However, due to issues with Family Giving Tree’s printing company, only 100 tags were sent to Cunningham, forcing her to split the tags equally between Redwood, Saratoga High, Foothill, and Argonaut.

As a result of the mistake, Cunningham said the school has not made as big of an impact in terms of giving to the community compared to past years, and given this year’s printing mishap she hopes to avoid similar circumstances in the future.

“We’re always looking for ways to give back to our local community and we’re open to ideas,” Cunningham said.