Pat Musick (left) with Jani Chris, captain in the Salvation Army and director of the Angel Tree Program for the Prince George’s County region.

Musick Receives Public Service Award for Work with Angel Tree Program

By Alita Byrd
Special to FYI Online

When Pat Musick, administrative assistant in UMUC’s teacher education department, lost her father on Christmas Day 1986, she felt all the happiness drain right out of the season. But as time went on, Musick looked around and found that she was not the only person ignoring holiday cheer.

“I realized that there are a lot of people in this world who don’t celebrate a holiday season just because they can’t,” Musick said. She decided she wanted to spend her holidays doing something to help.

About that time, Musick was listening to the radio and heard about a program that focused on helping children during the holidays. The Angel Tree Program, administered by the Salvation Army, collects gifts from donors and then matches those gifts with underprivileged children who might not otherwise receive anything during the holidays. The Angel Tree Program makes a list of children each year, including each child’s age, sex, clothing and shoe sizes, and a wish list from the child. Donors can choose one child (or several) from the list and buy whatever gifts they feel are appropriate.

“The children have received gifts ranging from dolls, strollers, Barbies, bicycles, books, sports equipment, arts and crafts, and educational toys to clothing and shoes and everything in between,” Musick said. “They may get three gifts or six gifts from one person; however, we make sure that gifts for siblings are all in the same price range.”

The first year Musick got involved with the Angel Tree Program, in 1996, she promised gifts for 25 children. Then she made an appeal to other employees in the Graduate School to help meet the commitment. She received an overwhelming response.

The following year, UMUC’s Graduate School bought gifts for 100 children, Musick said, and every Christmas since the program has grown. “This past year we provided gifts for 300 children,” she said. “This year I would like to get 350 to 400 ‘angels.’”

Thanks to Musick’s efforts, UMUC is by far the largest contributor to the Angel Tree Program in Prince George’s County, accounting for 10 percent of the overall contributions to the program.

Recently, Musick was surprised to learn that she had been selected to receive a 2004 University System of Maryland Regents University System Staff Award for extraordinary public service for her coordination of the Angel Tree Program at UMUC—the first UMUC employee to be granted such an award. Musick will receive the award—which comes with a certificate and $1,000—at the regents meeting this autumn.

“For me, I have found a way not just to give back to my community, but more importantly to bring smiles to children’s faces,” Musick said. But she notes that it isn’t only about the children from families without money. “Not only are we helping children that are less fortunate, but in some cases we are helping our own children. People get so enthusiastic about shopping for these children that they involve their families in the process, which is a wonderful way to teach children about compassion.”

Each year, Musick receives a package of cardboard angels from the Salvation Army, representing the number of children she has committed to sponsoring. Each angel is imprinted with the name of a child and is given to anyone in the Graduate School who decides to adopt that “angel.” Some people are already collecting gifts for this year’s program. It’s not too early to think about joining them.