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Georgia Southern’s Holiday Helper Tree aims to help 700
University's annual charity drive now underway though Dec. 5
Holiday Helper Tree
At the 2026 launch of the Holiday Helper Tree program on Thursday, from left, Georgia Southern University junior and Statesboro resident Katie McCorkle joins freshman Malai Miller and Emily Tanner in pulling a tag from the tree inside the Russell Union Rotunda of Georgia Southern. Tanner is the assistant director in the Office of First and Second Year Experience at GS. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff

In 1994, Georgia Southern’s first Holiday Helper Tree program was introduced to assist three area agencies create some Christmas cheer for about 250 local children.

On Thursday, 32 years later, the annual charity drive’s founder – Eileen Sconyers Smith – helped officially light the Holiday Helper Tree effort that will help more than 20 agencies and about 700 children in 2026.

“I want to encourage each of you to take a tag this year,” Smith said Thursday inside the university’s Russell Union Rotunda. “Think about someone in need. Think about how blessed you are with what you have. Think about how your gift may be the only one that a person gets this year in the holiday season.”

Holiday Helper Tree
Eileen Sconyers Smith, who co-founded the Holiday Helper Tree program in 1994, and Georgia Southern University first lady Dr. Jane Marrero launch the 2026 Holiday Helper Tree charity effort by lighting the tree Thursday. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff

In the past, pieces of paper with a child’s name and their help agency were attached to the Christmas tree that sits in the Russell Union. Students, faculty and staff would go up to the tree and take a slip. For the past several years, all the tags have a QR code that, once scanned, goes to the program’s website. Once there, previous givers may login, while newcomers will need to create an account. Once on the site, you make which agency to direct a Christmas gift for a child.

Smith retired in 2023 after working 33 years in the university’s Department of Sociology & Anthropology, but she returned Thursday to offer encouragement and to light the 2026 Holiday Helper Tree with Dr. Jane Marrero, first lady of Georgia Southern, who has helped the Holiday Helper Tree program since she arrived in 2019.

Holiday Helper Tree
Dr. Jane Marrero, first lady of Georgia Southern, speaks about the importance of the Holiday Helper Tree charity. Dr. Marrero has helped the Holiday Helper Tree program since she arrived in 2019. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff

“The Holiday Helper Tree is, I think, one of our best traditions and represents at the heart of Georgia Southern our desire to serve our communities,” Marrero said. “We see tags like this on the tree, and it's a good reminder that these are real people with real needs.”

Presented by the Office of Leadership and Community Engagement, the virtual Holiday Helper Tree is open now in the main lobby area of the Russell Union Commons through Dec. 5 for individuals to pull tags and ship their gifts. Tags on the physical trees will include the QR code to pull a tag on the virtual tree.

“We want to ask each one of you to participate and spread the word and go out and help somebody this holiday season because that's what it's all about,” Smith said.

For more information and to pull a virtual tag on the tree, visit: https://students.georgiasouthern.edu/LeadServe/hht/

Holiday Helper Tree
Virtual tags dangle from the Holiday Helper Tree inside the Russell Union, waiting to be pulled. The QR code on each tag directs donors to information about a specific child and agency for which to purchase a gift. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff