RTCC Students Bring
Cheer to 18 Families

Jordan Edson and Kim LaPlante, students at the Randolph Technical Career Center, wrap gifts for an "adopted" family in preparation for Tuesday morning's pick-up (Herald / Tim Calabro)

For 25 years, students at the Randolph Technical Career Center have been brightening the Christmases of area families, through an annual "Adopt a Family" campaign.

This year the kids and staff at RTCC outdid themselves, pulling together "a complete Christmas" for 18 families.

On Tuesday morning, students carried hundreds of wrapped and tagged presents from their classrooms to the technical center entryway, stacking them into 18 neatl piles, for pick-up later by family members.

In the annual project, each program at the center "adopts" an area family in need. The family names are kept confidential, but the Visiting Nurse Association provides a list of ages, genders, and gift suggestions.

Over the past six weeks, students and staff members have each contributed new or nearly new gifts, or cash for purchase of presents. Prior to Tuesday morning, the gifts were wrapped, tagged, and readied for pick-up.

Penny Chamberlin, an RTCC graduate who is now the center’s 21st Century Business instructor, remembers the project from her student days. Pre-holiday weeks can be a stressful time for schools, she noted, and this project, focused as it is on bringing joy to others, always has a positive effect on everyone.

Chamberlin, who annually oversees the project along with members of the Future Business Leaders of America, this week gave special kudos to this year’s FBLA. Chamberlin was out of school for the past few weeks for eye surgery, and the students, all of them juniors and all in their first year at RTCC, pulled off the project with style, she said.

At left, RTCC students Jordan Edson and Kim LaPlante carry gifts for an "adopted" family, in preparation for Tuesday morning’s pick-up. (Herald / Tim Calabro)