AUS Toy Story Campaign brings joy to orphaned children

Helping orphans is something American University of Sharjah (AUS) industrial engineering students Abdelrahman Mohsen and Judi Bilal have always wanted to do. When they learned about an opportunity to create toys for orphaned children through the AUS Toy Story Campaign, they jumped at the chance to get involved.

The two worked together with AUS Community Service and Outreach (CSO) to lead a group of 67 AUS students in learning how to design and create hand-made stuffed toys to be distributed to orphans between two to eight years old, as part of CSO’s Seventh Toy Story Campaign.

Seated at round tables adorned with colorful textiles, strips of textured fabric, tracing paper, markers, images of favorite cartoon characters, synthetic fiber for stuffing, and needle and thread, the student volunteers learned basic sewing skills as they went about making as many soft toys as they could. Dr. Isabela Tavares, Assistant Professor of Costume Design at AUS, also volunteered her time to teach students the basics of threading and knot-making, as well as different sewing styles.  

Mohsen said that helping orphans is one of his life goals. “Prior to this campaign, I was once sitting with Judi talking about our life goals and it turned out we both had helping orphans on our list, so, when this campaign came about, I was very happy to work with Judi on organizing it,” he said.

The student volunteers gladly shared their time for this campaign. 

“We are not distributing any certificates or having a recognition ceremony for student volunteers who are taking part in this campaign. It is a selfless act where students are taking chunks of their own time to sit and learn a skill they may or may not use in the future just because what they will create will bring a smile to a child. This campaign has brought people who do not know each other together just because they share the same passion,” sad Bilal.

In keeping with the campaign’s theme of “Reminisce on Your Childhood: Build a Childhood for Someone Else,” Bilal said that the organizing committee wanted to get students excited about the campaign. “We made sure we got the right budget, stock and even snacks that reminded students of what they used to enjoy when they were children,” said Bilal.  

Mohsen added: “We have learned a lot from this campaign: time management, budgeting, marketing, communication skills and, of course, sewing. It has been enriching and we look forward to seeing the toys students are making finding a home soon.”

The Toy Stories Campaign has proven to be one of the most popular community services events organized at AUS.

“The fact that we are holding this campaign for the seventh year shows how impactful it has been for the orphans and underprivileged children we have been trying to serve, as well as how meaningful it has been for our own students as they took the time to learn a new skill to make something that they know would bring happiness to kids,” said Aisha Ali, Community Service and Outreach Manager at AUS.

AUS has built strong partnerships with many national and international organizations offering students diverse and unlimited volunteering experiences. Community service and volunteerism are entrenched in AUS’ institutional values, among which are offering a transformative experience that prepares students to become outward-looking and responsible individuals ready to join the world, and offering opportunities for active engagement that contributes to the development of society.

For more information on community service and volunteerism at AUS, www.aus.edu/life-at-aus/student-life/community-involvement/community-out....