At SCAD, community service is in our DNA – part and parcel of our students’ education and a way of honoring Savannah, a city we’ve called home for more than three decades.

Several times each year, the SCAD Buzz Bus travels to local elementary schools to deliver art supplies and books. One of my favorite stops comes in December, when SCAD’s Secret Santa program delivers Christmas cheer to children at Savannah’s Union Mission. Now in its 17th season, this event has become a beloved holiday tradition for the entire SCAD community. This year, more students, faculty, and staff than ever before volunteered to gather gifts and participate in the Secret Santa Toy Drop.

The atmosphere positively bubbled with joy as we boarded the bus. We donned our most festive apparel, and even Art T. Bee managed to fit a Santa hat between his antennae.

After we arrived, SCAD volunteers formed an assembly line that Santa’s elves would envy, passing along soccer balls, skateboards, bicycles, princess castles, toy trucks, and boards games until gifts filled the mission’s lobby. Waiting there were Amire and his sister Bren’nijah (pictured above), Reynolda, Rashad, Armania, and Jalyn – all wide-eyed and beaming as the presents streamed in.

For the children – and for us – the true spirit of Christmas lived.