The Compassion in Action Club partnered with Campolindo Leadership to hold a toy drive for Refugee Transitions, an organization that supports the needs of refugees in California. The drive, organized by junior and club president Kimya Peyvan, requested students to bring new toys ranging from $10-20 to Room E9 by January 29.

“The toys will go to children refugees who maybe couldn’t celebrate Christmas, so we’re hoping to provide them with some sort of Christmas gift,” said Peyvan.

According to Peyvan, the Compassion in Action club’s mission is to host fundraisers support refugee families who have come to California from countries like Syria.

“It is very important to us that the immigrants around here feel safe and welcome, and that they have as smooth of a transition as possible,” said club vice-president sophomore Justine Ellery.

Peyvan’s goal for the toy drive was 20-30 toys by January 25. However, in order to meet the goal, the drive was extended to the following Tuesday, January 29. By the end of the day, the drive had collected a total of 16 toys, just shy of their goal of 20.

“I think that the hard thing is that we’re asking for new toys, which people might not have lying around,” said Peyvan. “But I believe that if we keep spreading the word hopefully more people will donate.”

“Even if we don’t collect a whole ton of toys, I still think it’s good to donate what we can because every little bit helps,” added Ellery.

Leadership teacher Lindsay Webb-Peplo said this toy drive was hard for people to “clue into” because it started when the semester was ending.

Compassion in Action is currently in the stages of planning a future drive that will collect first-aid kit supplies for the Salvation Army.