[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/santa hog edited.jpg” caption=”President Peter George and fourth-year mechanical engineering student Michael Harris took part in the McMaster Engineering Society’s annual Santa Hog campaign on Dec. 1. Photo by Josh Campbell.”]The McMaster Engineering Society (MES) held its annual Santa Hog campaign on Friday, Dec. 1 to raise money for Interval House of Hamilton. Every year before exams, a group of engineering students, led by the MES Culture Chair and the Redsuits (the engineering spirit leaders), visit classes and offices, spreading pre-exam holiday cheer, singing carols and collecting donations.

The engineering students also raised awareness of the services offered by Interval House of Hamilton by distributing pamphlets provided by the agency.

Interval House of Hamilton is a non-profit agency that serves women who are in, or have been in, abusive relationships.

The services provided by the agency include safe residential emergency shelter and housing, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (including all meals, emergency clothing and personal items), outreach services, legal advocacy services, confidential crisis telephone counselling and child and youth counseling.

In the six hours the students spent “hogging” last year, more than $1,750 was raised. A new record was set last Friday when students collected $2,000 for Interval House.

This event is just one of many organized by the MES that have a positive impact on the McMaster, Westdale and Hamilton communities.

Upcoming MES charity events include a food drive and the White Ribbon campaign to end violence against women. The MES is also participating in today's Dec. 6 memorial service to remember the victims of the Montreal Massacre.

The MES would like to thank all students and faculty who donated to the campaign, as well as those professors who agreed to let their classes participate in Santa Hog. Thanks also to McMaster Security Services for providing an escort for the group throughout the day.

If you have been a victim of abuse, or feel that you or your children face a safety risk, please call the Interval House of Hamilton crisis line at 905-387-8881 or click here.