Students go holiday shopping for local nonprofits

Top: Joey Maness ’25, Charlie Swiersz ’25, Pete Bard ’25, Andy Cockrell ’23 and Mark Calvin ’23. Bottom: Edith Olivera-Bautista ’23, Grace Campbell ’23, Ali Collins ’23, Elizabeth Yeager ’23, Morgan Locklear ’25 and Nancy Cooper, coordinator for volunteer services.

Last updated December 12, 2022

By Furman News

On Friday, Dec. 2, the Heller Service Corps leadership team went holiday shopping. Working from wish lists provided by local nonprofit agencies, the students swarmed the Walmart in Travelers Rest, seeking items to supplement those that had already been collected through the annual RaeNae Nay’s Holiday Giving Tree program.

“The shopping is always most team members’ favorite day of the year,” said Ali Collins ’23, student director of the Heller Service Corps. “All of Wal-Mart is looking at us and asking what we are doing. We get people who want to help or donate or just want to hear more. And the Walmart staff is always so sweet with helping us that day.”

Wal-Mart employees closed down a checkout lane just for the Furman students. After checking out, the team took the truckload of donations back to Alley Gym for sorting. On Dec. 7, the local agencies stopped by to collect them, as students loaded each arriving car to capacity.

“The pick-ups are really great,” said Collins. “That’s where we see the human connection with the representatives from each agency and get to hear about the impact that the donations will have, which is the most important part.”

RaeNae Nay, who worked at Furman for more than 30 years, was an early and passionate supporter of the Heller Service Corps’ Holiday Giving Tree program, purchasing many items herself each year and encouraging her colleagues to participate. In 2016, she shared the news of her cancer diagnosis with her friends Amy Blackwell, associate vice president for finance, and Nancy Cooper, coordinator for volunteer services.

“She wanted to tell us that she knew she did not have long to live, and she wanted all of her memorials to go to the Holiday Giving Tree,” Cooper remembered. “Amy and I teared up, and in typical RaeNae style, she told us both to dry our tears – that she knew where she was going and for us not to be sad. Her main focus was to make sure that the Holiday Giving Tree would continue.”

To honor her memory and recognize her generosity, the annual tradition of RaeNae Nay’s Holiday Giving Tree continues to this day.