Meet Jennifer Icaza-Gast

Eleven years ago, Jennifer Icaza-Gast proposed bringing in small toys as an extra credit opportunity for her students at Southeast Missouri State University. After an overwhelming response from them, she decided to found the toy-giving charitable organization called Student Santas.

Her inspiration came from an experience with her own children at Christmas. In contrast to the typical joy of Christmas morning, for Icaza-Gast, watching her children happily open presents made her feel heartbroken for others who might be going into their own living rooms and finding nothing.

"The disappointment that I was feeling for these other kids that I didn't even know was just completely overwhelming," she says.

The following semester, she asked her students to bring in toys for bonus points and set the cap at four toys for the maximum amount of credit. She says the response was incredible, with some students bringing in 20, 40 and even as many as 58 toys to give to underprivileged children in the area.

Since then, the toy-giving movement has grown noticeably, with more people volunteering to give each year.

Jennifer GastLaura Simon

"We've gone from giving out 1,600 toys to helping, oh gosh, now, last count, about 18,200 children in the area. I'm pretty proud of it," she says.

As the movement gained traction, Icaza-Gast says she was able to get a P.O. box to receive request letters. Since then, she has obtained not-for-profit status in Missouri and is able to help families throughout the entire state.

"We get letters from all over the state from everybody -- moms, dads, aunts, uncles, neighbors, social workers, nurses, parent liaisons -- you name it, we get letters from them requesting help for certain families and certain kids," Icaza-Gast says.

She says she and other volunteers read every letter that is submitted, which sets the organization apart and provides a more personal connection for those involved. The giving also has expanded over time from just toys to larger need-based items, such as beds, blankets, coats and shoes for children.

During her time working with Student Santas, Icaza-Gast says she has tried to balance her attention between her own children -- two boys, 11 and 13, and one girl, 4 -- and the children in the program. She also likes to have her children get involved in reading letters and buying the toys to help teach them the value of helping others.

"I think it's important to show our kids, you know, look, this is the reality of the world and not everybody is fortunate to have hot food on the table or warm coats to put on and tennis shoes to play in. And so, I want my kids to not take any of that for granted and I want them to be kind and giving and give back because they are so blessed," she says.

A couple years ago, Icaza-Gast says she received a letter from a 5-year-old boy, and all he asked for in the letter was a nice meal.

"That just about crushed me," she says.

She decided to do all she could to help provide that little boy a meal, and began to organize a holiday dinner to help feed people for free on Christmas Day.

The first year, Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and Ryan's donated food for the dinner, and with more than 100 volunteers, Student Santas fed more than 100 people.

In 2015, the casino and Ryan's provided food again, beverages were provided by Coca-Cola, and more than 150 volunteers helped the organization feed about 300 people. Toys were given to every child, with extras coming from the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program.

During the dinner, five or six kids approached Icaza-Gast and hugged her and thanked her simply for feeding them.

"I knew right then, 'Man, I am going to do this every year, I don't care what it takes.' Just to see the smiles on those kids' faces was just a lot," she says.

She expects the event to grow in coming years and has already had about 30 businesses approach her to be involved in the third annual dinner later this year.

In the future, Icaza-Gast says she wants to branch out with Student Santas and extend it to other universities throughout the country.

In the past, she did a fundraiser with Build-A-Bear Workshop to create different kinds of bears wearing Santa hats and T-shirts with the Student Santas logo on them. She says her hope is to create more bears and sell them in university bookstores and other locations to help create additional fundraising for the organization.

Icaza-Gast is involved in a number of other charitable organizations in the community, including the BackPacks for Friday program through the SEMO Food Bank and the recently introduced Care to Learn program. She also is a member of the Cape Evening Optimist Club and the Medical Alliance board, and has chaired the Cape Annual Cancer Gala.

Her attention turns to Student Santas, though, every October, November and December.