By Emily Bell

LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE — Several Baton Rouge and campus organizations and individuals donated time and resources for the LSU Staff Senate’s 23rd annual “Holiday on Campus” on the day that has been nationally dubbed “Giving Tuesday.”

Christmas music played in the gym at the University Recreation Center as LSU students, faculty, staff and their children enjoyed donated food and drinks, arts and crafts, pictures with Santa Claus, letters to Santa, balloons, face-painting and donated door prizes on Nov. 27.

Attendees reaped the benefits of the festivities as they donated non-perishable food items to the Baton Rouge Food Bank and toys to Toys for Tots, the national program operated by the U.S. Marine Corps.

According to an informal count at the end of the night by Marines staffing the Toys for Tots table, the event netted 109 in toy donations and $40 in cash.

LSU Cheerleaders, 2012 Miss LSU Elizabeth Connor, 2012 Miss Black Louisiana Ashley Hebert and recently crowned 2012 LSU Homecoming King and Queen Taylor Cox and Kendall Knoblach greeted attendees. A life-size snowman, reindeer and stilt-walking elf also made an appearance.

Some 70 volunteers signed up for the event that lasted from 6 to 8 p.m.

Senior environmental engineering major Fabienne Placide said she stayed from set-up to take-down and what she loved most about the event was helping kids with the arts and crafts.

The kids seemed to be having fun, she said, “So I was happy, too.”