Dear Penn Community,

Thank you for your continued generosity. It is especially notable during the holiday season, but evident at all times. There are no words to adequately describe your generosity. Many continue to benefit from your willingness to give. Here are examples of various efforts:

Thank you to President Gutmann for hosting her Annual Holiday Party where over 300 toys and gifts were donated. These toys along with many others were donated to Councilwoman Blackwell’s Annual Holiday Party for the Homeless.

Thank you to the following departments; they brought joy to families during the holidays by “adopting” them:

• African American Resource Center coordinated by Valerie Allen and Colleen Winn
• School of Arts and Sciences coordinated by Danielle McNinch
• Career Services coordinated by Jamie Grant
• College Houses and Academic Services coordinated by Linda M. Kromer
• Contact Center and Concierge Reception coordinated by Yvonne Giorgio
• Facilities and Real Estate Services coordinated by Perry Bloomfield
• General Counsel coordinated by Helen Logan
• Graduate Education CPRE Consortium coordinated by Katarina Suwak
• GSE Urban Teaching Residency coordinated by Lori Noll
• Iwamoto Family coordinated by Ellen Iwamoto
• Netter Center for Community Partnerships coordinated by Deb Sokalczuk
• Office of the Comptroller coordinated by Celestine Silverman
• Office of Gift Planning coordinated by Lorleen Finor-Maxwell
• Office of the Provost coordinated by Carolyn Rasp
• Penn Champions Athletics Development coordinated by Emily Shields
• University Communications coordinated byLauren Summers
• Penn Employee Solution Center coordinated by Stephanie C. Brown
• Penn Fund coordinated by Joshua Nay
• Penn Museum coordinated by Jill DiSanto
• Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care coordinated by Susan Turbitt
• Research Services coordinated by Tina Nemetz
• SAS Programs and Events coordinated by Danielle McNinch
• Training and Development HR coordinated by Holly Marrone
• University of Pennsylvania Libraries coordinated by Jeanne Shuttleworth
• Wharton Customer Analytics coordinated by Rachel L. Dutcher
• Wharton Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center coordinated by Lauren Hurray
• Wharton Executive Education coordinated by Anne Corcoran-Petela
• Wharton Major Gifts coordinated by Lisa Balogh
• Wharton Marketing and Communication coordinated by Marcia Longworth
• Wharton School Dean’s Office coordinated by Jennifer O’Keefe

Several departments adopted multiple families.

Additional families adopted because of generous donations of gift cards.

Thank you to the Carolyn Henry family; they brought joy to a deserving family during the holidays.

Special thanks to Carisma Therapeutics coordinated by Kara Collins who generously participated in our program.

Special thanks to the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, coordinated by Stephanie Yuhasz, for their generous donation of gift cards that increased our capacity to partner with local agencies.

Special thanks to the Department of Public Safety for their large donation of gifts and toys.

Special thanks to the Smilow Center for Translational Research coordinated by Patricia Mericko for the generous donation of gift cards that helped to adopt additional families, and provide holiday dinners.

Special thanks to Helen Logan and the Office of General Counsel for adopting several families.

Special thanks to Human Resources coordinated by Syreeta Gary, and others from across the University for their large donation to the Annual Coat Drive.

Special thanks to SAS Finance, Facilities and Computing for their “Warm Me Up” donations.

Thank you to the entire University community for donating over 1,200 gifts and toys.

Thank you to the Dropsite Volunteers who collected all the toys/gifts and made it possible for us to respond to request for donations from our neighbors listed below:

• Councilwoman Blackwell’s Annual Holiday Party for the Homeless
• Beyond the Exterior, Inc.
• Parents Against Drugs
• Baring House Crisis Nursery
• Dare to Imagine
• People’s Emergency Shelter
• Christ Lutheran Church
• Stewart Street Holiday Party
• Local families

Additionally, the following pantries benefitted from the University’s Annual Food Drive:

• Authentic Minds
• St. Barnabas Mission
• Baring House Crisis Nursery
• 59th Street Baptist Church Food Pantry
• New Kensington CDC
• Men Unifying Men Food Pantry
• Life Center of Eastern Delaware County

Thank you to all the special persons both named and unnamed for their remarkable generosity.

Please forgive any oversights, and send corrections to Isabel Sampson-Mapp at sammapp@upenn.edu

Join Penn VIPS Drives Committee

Penn volunteers provide a drop off location to collect the many donated items we receive during our annual drives.

A variety of drives are conducted during the course of the year to partner with and help support local schools, families, and agencies. Dropsite volunteers are located throughout campus.

Volunteers post the events, set up collection sites and help select the recipients for the donations. They also participate in an annual thank you luncheon.

Drives are held during the following times:

• School Supplies Drive: August
• Food Drive: November
• Gift/Toy Drive: December
• Change Drive: March
• New School Uniform Drive: Ongoing

Contact Isabel Sampson-Mapp at (215) 898-2020 or sammapp@upenn.edu for additional information.