By Nicole Park
Daily Titan Staff Writer

Camp Titan supporters wrapped 572 brand new gifts on Saturday and watched the bright packages get torn apart on Sunday.

Sarah Duncan, 22, holds a handful of sporting equipment that need wrapping at the Golleher Alumni House on Saturday, December 12, 2009 for the upcoming Titan Toy Drive. Photo by Ron Fu/Daily Titan Staff Photographer

As Cal State Fullerton’s official philanthropy, Camp Titan hosts a week-long camp in Big Bear for underprivileged Orange County boys and girls every June.

Around the holidays, camp staff invites all campers of the previous summer to celebrate the gift-giving season their parents might not otherwise be able to afford.

The hundreds of new toys were donated from students, faculty, staff and alumni in Titan Toy Drive bins located across campus through Dec. 10.

At Saturday’s wrapping party, members of the Cal State Fullerton Alumni Association, Student Alumni Ambassadors, Greek Life and Camp Titan staff spent the afternoon wrapping and labeling hundreds of toys at Santa’s temporary workshop in Fullerton at the George G. Golleher Alumni House.

Alumni Association President Verne Wagner volunteered her time for the cause.

“We’re in some tough economic times, but the worst thing is for a child to wake up on Christmas morning to no presents,” Wagner said.

The current president is an alumna of CSUF who graduated from the College of Business and Economics 1977.

Wagner commended the generosity of everyone who donated gifts to the cause.

“It’s nice to see such generosity on a campus where faculty has taken a 10 percent pay cut and students are paying more in fees. People are still finding the money to donate, and I think that tells a lot about our campus,” Wagner said.

St. Nick himself passed out presents the next day at the annual Camp Titan Holiday Party, held in the Titan Student Union’s Pavilions B and C from 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. Of this past June’s 140 campers, 60 children showed up to the party.

The children were also given the opportunity to win one of two bikes, a scooter or a Nintendo DS in an raffle.

Thomas Kocina, 20, wraps a gift in the kitchen of the Golleher Alumni House on Saturday, December 12, 2009 for the upcoming Titan Toy Drive. Photo by Ron Fu/Daily Titan Staff Photographer

Even the Christmas tree was given to a family without one when the event concluded.

Co-director of Camper Relations Melyssa DelaCruz, 20, said Camp Titan is an important experience for these children because “kids need a chance to grow their personality outside the home, and this may be their only opportunity.” She also said the holiday party may be “the only Christmas some of them are going to have and definitely the biggest part of the holiday for most of them.”

Co-director of Staff Relations Kim Fragola, 22, served the philanthropy first as a camp counselor on staff and is now serving her second year as co-director.

Fragola said there were enough presents to evenly distribute six gifts to each of the 60 children who attended the party with surplus to donate about 50 remaining gifts to the Fullerton fire station’s Toys for Tots drive. Campers were even able to bring along family members to join in the festivities.

“It was amazing. We’re not only helping these kids, but we’re helping their parents. It’s hard for them to know they can’t provide extra for their kids,” DelaCruz said of Sunday’s party.

In addition to age and gender-appropriate gifts, the campers had fun decorating cookies, making tree ornaments and candy cane reindeer to take home.

After the final days of this year’s Titan Toy Drive, DelaCruz said, “I’m still smiling. I feel selfish. This is for the kids, but I feel like it’s for me. We’re all so happy to see these kids. We sleep in the same cabins with them at camp and then we see them around home at the grocery store. You might not think there is a real need in your community, but these kids literally live down the street from us.”