Shawn Kelly Holiday Party delivers cheer to local families

by Liz DeProspo / DECEMBER 8, 2022

On Dec. 2, Kenyon student volunteers transformed Gund Commons into a winter wonderland — complete with multicolored holiday tinsel, an inflatable Santa that stretched from floor to ceiling and a snack table that overflowed with cookies and cocoa — for the 31st annual Shawn Kelly Holiday Party. The three-hour event served over 300 Mount Vernon families, offering a temporary reprieve from the financial insecurity that many local families face during the holiday season. 

The party, which was organized by Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) and Theta Delta Phi (Thetas), was run by 60 Santa-hat-clad Kenyon students, most of whom volunteered through their Greek organizations. To identify interested families and gather specific information on the ages and interests of attendees, DKE and Theta partnered with Knox County Head Start, an organization that provides education and family services to children in Knox County. According to DKE president Dylan Osimetha ’23, working with the Head Start families through the event gave volunteers two valuable experiences: the opportunity to serve others and the chance to remember Shawn Kelly, a DKE brother renowned for his altruistic spirit who passed away in 1990. “It is a remarkable way to honor the legacy of a member of our fraternity who had a passion for serving others,” Osimetha wrote in an email to the Collegian.

Armed with sugar cookies and tacky sweaters, volunteers spent their Friday evening greeting families, serving as crossing guards and operating stations to keep the kids engaged with a range of hands-on activities. Throughout the evening, every child had the opportunity to decorate a gingerbread house, take festive pictures in photo booths equipped with holiday props and share their wishlist with Santa — whose “helpers” were members of DKE dressed in elven attire.