Art department provides Christmas fun for area kids

Each holiday season hundreds of citizens around the country come together with open arms and giving hearts to serve the community and spread the spirit of Christmas.

This year, for the tenth consecutive time, the UMHB art department will unite volunteers and participants for an entertaining and beneficial event. The Christmas Workshop will be held Dec. 9, and the proceeds will benefit the Belton Communities In Schools program.

Associate professor Helen Kwaitkowski said each year members of the faculty and staff and the university’s students willingly contribute their time to help less fortunate children.

“There is no obligation to do this; I do it just because. Everyone that volunteers, does it because they want to; it’s a total labor of love.”

After years of contributing to an after-school visual arts program, Kwaitkowski said she wanted to give back to the community, and as a result decided to establish an annual event to do just that.

“In a way, it started as a thank you to the parents and participants of the program, (and) it was so well received.”

Kwaitkowski said the experience compelled her to combine a passion for the arts and her love for the children with an event that many could enjoy.

“It’s a really great program. I have first-hand knowledge of how much those kids need things. It’s such a gratifying experience, working with the kids and knowing that what they do benefits kids that don’t have as much.”

She said showing others that volunteers care and want to help is ideally what the spirit of the holiday is.

“It’s gratifying to work with kids and being able to give back to the community and give to people who don’t have as much. And it’s the right thing to do at Christmas—it’s the right thing to do all year long.”

Musical performer of Still on the Hill and Toucan Jam, Kelly Mulhollan, said being able to see a young person filled with eagerness to pursue the arts fills him with an incentive to continue his passions in music.

“If we can see in a child’s eyes that we have inspired them to do something creative, that is the best reward we can get. That’s very powerful.”

Mulhollan, along with fellow musician Donna Stjerna, travel all over the country and Europe performing a variety of entertaining and educational music, tales and stories.

“It’s a multicultural show mixed with our own fun songs that gracefully teaches kids universal lessons through traditional legends.”

Toucan Jam released a new compact disc this year. The album, A World of Music, won a Parents Choice Award and a Kids Music Web Award. The Arkansas duo regularly entertains at benefits in their home state.

“We perform at about 15 to 20 charity events a year. And you do this for so long, you sometimes forget how rewarding it feels. To see that light go on inside them is very rewarding,” Mulholland said.

Freshman Christian studies major Jamie Tavez believes the experience will be something the children will greatly appreciate.

“Most kids that are a part of the (Communities In Schools) program aren’t used to people giving them a lot of things. This is something that’s good for them. They can see that even from the little things they get, there are people that care about them out there.”