(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College recently hosted a holiday celebration for the families living in TSTC campus housing and the children of TSTC’s Early Head Start and NINOS Head Start programs complete with food, games, gifts and a visit from Santa Claus.

The gifts that were distributed to the children by Santa were donated by TSTC faculty and staff during TSTC’s annual Toys for Tots drive. In all, 176 toys were collected and distributed this year.

TSTC Toys for Tots is an annual tradition hosted by Support Services. TSTC employees have been collecting and distributing toys for close to two decades.

“The families we select for toy distribution have either low incomes or no incomes due to being full-time students at TSTC,” said Patty Flores, ­­­­Support Services coordinator. “Students make sacrifices to better their family, and this can be a difficult financial time for them. We believe their children should still get to experience the joy of opening a gift.”