Building Community Through a Holiday Toy Drive

As a second-year Master of Public Health student at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), Maddie Gremillion is leveraging her research skills and compassionate nature to build community through the university-wide Holiday Toy Drive Exchange.

“I knew [a toy drive] presented a volunteer opportunity that could build connection within our institution.”

Maddie Gremillion

For the last three winters, Gremillion has led the toy drive, which she launched as an undergraduate student in UNC’s B.S. in Biomedical Science program. The Colorado School of Public Health at UNC Student Council has adopted the toy drive this year, and several students are supporting the effort to match faculty, staff and students who sign up to donate with those who request gifts from fellow Bears.

“Students from Texas Women’s University presented on a toy drive at a National Collegiate Honors Conference I attended,” Gremillion said. “At the time, my husband and I had been trying to conceive for a while, so it really resonated with me. As a leader in our Honors Program and a coordinator in the Office of Undergraduate Research, I knew it presented a volunteer opportunity that could build connection within our institution.”

Gremillion explained that, unlike typical gift exchanges, requests are curated to ensure each child receives a toy tailored to their preferences. Most recipients are the children, siblings or grandchildren of UNC community members. The initiative benefits public health students by integrating Community Health Education competencies—including data collection, analysis, program planning and implementation—into a real-world setting.

A key component of the post-drive analysis will center on its effectiveness in enhancing individuals’ sense of belonging. Results will be incorporated into a manuscript for which Gremillion will be the lead author.

Last year, bilingual flyers and emails were created in both Spanish and English. These marketing materials helped the drive reach UNC’s custodial staff, who have become the program’s most active participants.

“The initial drive was for parents of college students, but it has transformed into a system of support for our custodial staff. This has opened my eyes into the experiences of custodial workers. They are an important part of our community, and the survey allows us to gather their experiences and perceptions so we can better support them,” Gremillion said.

Gremillion serves as a graduate assistant to Dannon Cox, an assistant professor in Community Health Education at the Colorado School of Public Health at UNC. Cox has a doctorate in Sport and Exercise Science. He said Gremillion’s research utilizes RE-AIM, a common public health evaluation framework that examines outcomes in reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance.

“It allows us to better understand if the work that we’re doing is effective,” Cox said. “So, for instance, we’re figuring out approximately how many people on campus might have children. How many people are involved in this? How did they hear about it? These are all evaluation metrics that we’re measuring.”

Cox said Gremillion is an excellent fit for the MPH program for several reasons: she has a strong research mindset from her background in biology and the hard sciences, great skills in working with people and an eagerness to build her knowledge in community health education.

“She has naturally become a leader within her cohort and the program. While the toy drive serves as a vehicle for us to practice public health, it is not her end-all research goal,” Cox said. “She’s still focused on developing her career in biology, hard sciences and health care, and I’m mentoring her throughout her program here.”

Gremillion has benefited from mentorship since she arrived at UNC as an older non-traditional student, having moved from a tiny gold rush town in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Her initial plan was to go to medical school as a pre-med student, but with the birth of her child, her trajectory changed to public health.

“I took this opportunity to be in college to wring and squeeze out everything I could,” Gremillion said. “I was part of many different research projects, I went to academic conferences and I really connected with the faculty at UNC. It became like a family to me.”

Throughout her studies at UNC, Gremillion has taken every opportunity to learn more about patients as individuals, the communities they come from and how their background affects their health. The Holiday Toy Drive Exchange has been her “heart passion project,” and she’s happy that it will continue after she graduates.

“In my professional career, I’m interested in improving health systems and health care education. I’m also good at finding and fixing gaps, so I’m looking at paths in evaluation. The next step is working for a few years and then finding a professional-focused Ph.D. program,” Gremillion said.

Learn more about the Holiday Toy Drive on Instagram at ColoradoSPH @ UNC.