The Student Association has organized a charity gift drive, “Operation SAnta,” to spread holiday cheer to underprivileged children in the Binghamton area this winter.

The drive recruits students to buy presents for local needy children.

The SA is working in conjunction with the Binghamton City School District to find disadvantaged children to give gifts. School guidance counselors provide the names of children they think could benefit from the drive.

The program, formerly called “Hooray! for the Holidays,” was revamped this year by a group of assistants to SA officers.

“We heard about the old program from our superiors and wanted to give it more life,” said Jessica Franklin, a junior majoring in management and the project’s coordinator.

Mary Ellen Lollie, program manager for the Parents and Children Together Program at the City School District, has been involved in coordinating with BU for charity drives for 19 years. She said programs like Operation SAnta can make a difference.

“Binghamton has a very high poverty rate,” Lollie said. “If you look at what families are asking for, it’s a gift card to a grocery store, or warm clothing, and then maybe toys.”

David Hagerbaumer, executive director of the SA, was also instrumental in setting up the drive.

“Many of our SA-chartered groups are involved in this kind of activity all year long and were founded on the principle of community service,” Hagerbaumer said. “Operation SAnta simply brings that spirit to this special time of year and attempts to bring a united focus to these good works.”

Franklin stressed how much these gifts can mean to the children receiving them.

“Some kids just want an art set, a sewing kit or a basketball,” Franklin said. “These are timeless items, without which talent and creativity in a child could be hindered or extinguished.”

Students who signed up to be a part of the program were given information about the kind of gift they should purchase for donation.

Franklin said that the aim of Operation SAnta is to help make the holiday season brighter for underprivileged children, especially after the devastation wrought by severe flooding in Binghamton in September.

“The holiday drive is a way for all of us to reach out, touch the lives of local families and to help put smiles on the faces all across our great city, especially in this year when the flood destroyed so much,” Franklin said.

Though the sign-up deadline has passed, Franklin said that those who want to get involved should go ahead and bring a gift to the celebration.

Students can bring their gifts to the Operation SAnta celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 7 in the Old Union Hall.