With the holidays approaching, many organizations on campus and in the Winona area ask for food, clothes, toys and monetary donations from students at Winona State University and the community. College students are typically not the group of people one would imagine going to when looking for donations, but Winona State has proved this wrong.

Winona State’s National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) successfully spread cheer across campus and celebrated the season of giving with all of the students living in the residence halls.

NRHH is a nationwide organization dedicated to recognizing leadership within campus residence halls. The goal of NRHH is to honor the hard work and unnoticed leaders within university housing and residence life communities.

Aside from recognizing leaders, the Winona State NRHH chapter also dedicates their time to service projects around the Winona community and volunteering on campus.   

One of NRHH’s biggest projects every year is a program called “You Light Up My Life.” NRHH collects monetary donations from students in the residence halls to purchase toys. NRHH gives these toys to the local Winona Area Toys for Kids drive.

The Winona Area Toys for Kids drive puts out barrels every year to collect toys that can be given back to the community. Each year, the drive helps provide toys to approximately 900 children in the Winona community and surrounding area.

Teaming up with Residence Housing Association (RHA) on campus, NRHH and RHA teamed up to door-knock through the residence halls, collecting donations and getting the campus involved in helping the community.

Melissa Hettmann, advisor of NRHH for the last two years, reported that together NRHH and RHA collected $841 of donations from the students of Winona State.

Students who donated at least three dollars received a string of lights and were encouraged to hang them in their window.  NRHH plans to pick a date and have all the students turn on their lights to light up Winona State’s campus and show support for the Winona community.

NRHH has a team of five executive board members and then a council of members that have been inducted into the honorary society. According to Kayla Tembruell, sophomore and first-year NRHH executive co-president, NRHH has done amazing things for the Winona Community and Winona State.

“I love being a part of NRHH because of things like (You Light Up My Life.) Tembruell said. “Knowing that our little club and all of Winona State can do so much for the entire Winona community is amazing. When I joined NRHH, I never expected to do something so great for the community I live in. It feels so good to know that we can do so much for the people around us during the holiday season.” 

Katrina Pfaffenbach, NRHH promotions Director, shared her excitement about this year’s success with “You Light Up My Life.”

“I couldn’t believe we all raised over $800, it’s crazy. Going shopping for toys and knowing they will be going to kids that need them in our very own community is going to make it all the more special,” Pffaffenbach said. “It makes me so happy to know that what the students here give will be going directly back into our own community, and that is something to be proud of. I’m so proud of how generous Winona State is and what we have all done together.”