As holiday day cheer wraps up the calendar year, the Office of the Dean of the Chapel is gearing up for Howard University’s annual Bison Holiday Give Back project. 

Now in its 24th year, the Bison Holiday Give Back is planning its biggest project yet and is calling on students to volunteer with wrapping gifts on Friday, December 1, in the Blackburn Ballroom. Nearly 1,000 personalized gifts will be wrapped and signed by the volunteers under the leadership and guidance of the chapel assistants. 

This year’s Holiday Give Back will serve nine different sites: five elementary and middle schools, two centers, and two shelters. Due to high interest from students, and in order to meet the needs of as many D.C. residents as possible, the project has expanded this year from 50 to 100 students per site.  

“With a program like this, it’s great to support local students, including students at our own middle school,” said Sierra A. Williamson, community service chair of the chapel assistants. “This is so students can know it was specifically wrapped for them. You’re not a number, you’re a person and we personalized these gifts for each student.” 

We’re providing a touch point to show students across D.C. that the Howard community cares for them and is there for them.”  

Williamson, a junior honors management and Africana studies minor raised in Australia, has not only participated in service initiatives throughout the nation’s capital, but also in international locales such as Indonesia and New Zealand.  

For her, this is a moment of “practical faith” and putting the Chapel’s principles in action. “I love my church family and my Chapel Sunday morning, but I also think that part of living out your faith is going out into the community and serving,” Williamson said.  

Erica Middleton, assistant program coordinator for the Office of the Dean of the Chapel hailing from Prince George’s County, says that this D.C.-focused work is a full circle moment, not only for her service to her surrounding community, but also for the Chapel and its mission of instilling servant leadership within the student body. 

“Seeing students being able to connect with what they believe here, whether they want to be a doctor, lawyer, in international affairs, they see how they play a role in this global community and how they can serve,” Middleton said. "What’s learned here leaves here, so being able to take what is learned back to your communities that you wish to serve is so impactful.”