As the holiday season is quickly approaching, the Graphix OU club hosted a holiday card decoration event and organized a food drive.

Graphix OU is a student-run organization that focuses on visual art in an effort to provide various artistic opportunities as well as to deliver information in an “effective and stylistic” way by laying out illustrations and texts based on various creative ideas.

“Graphix OU as a whole is a fun way to get together with other students at Oakland and talk about visual art and design,” Kariann DeGhetto, president of Graphix OU, said. “We think it is very important for students to connect with art even if that is not their main focus at Oakland.”

A major part of the club is providing students the opportunity to meet other students on campus with the same interests and majors. Graphix OU provides workshops on Adobe programs and introduces information as well as providing feedback to its members on their design projects.

The COVID-19 virus has put many people, including OU students, physically away from their families, which in turn caused mental illnesses in even more people. Being able to connect to their loved ones seems to be more important now than ever, and the food drive and holiday card decoration event serve this purpose.

“I felt that since the pandemic started, it has been a while since a lot of students have gotten to see their family or friends,” DeGhetto said. “I wanted them to be able to connect with their loved ones if they were not going to be able to see them again for the holidays this year. I know the holidays are a tough time for a lot of individuals and families.”

The food drive donations will be accepted until Thursday, Nov.18. Accepted items for the food drive include the following:

•   Masks
•   Kleenex
•   Toothbrush/toothpaste
•   Mini mouthwashes
•   Tuna
•   Crackers
•   Canned chicken
•   Chili (Vegetarian/Meat options)
•   Peanut butter
•   Jelly
•   Soup (vegetarian and gluten free options)
•   Oatmeal
•   Cold cereal
•   Hot chocolate
•   Rice a Roni
•   Pasta (microwavable options)
•   Spaghetti sauce
•   Rice/Grains (GF/organic options)
•   Mashed potatoes
•   Water
•   Juice
•   Snack bars
•   Snack roll-ups
•   Granola mix
•   Chips
•   Popcorn
•   Spices
•   Fruit cups/applesauce
•   Crossword puzzles, sudoku, coloring books, stress balls

DeGhetto and other E-Board members’ goal for the food drive is to get 45 donated items from those who attend the club’s general body meeting, and they hope that everyone that attends is able to make at least one card for a loved one for any holiday they wish.

The club’s meetings are every other Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Oakland Center Room 126, but with Thanksgiving break, its next and last meeting of the semester will be held on Thursday, Dec. 2. For this meeting, DeGhetto said that professors Meghan Berry and Kimmy Parker will be guest speakers who will talk about the senior thesis course for graphic design and other art majors. Its first meeting of the winter semester will be held on Thursday, Jan. 13 at the same time and place.

“I would just like to say that everyone is welcome at all of our meetings,” DeGhetto said. “You do not have to be a graphic design or art major of any kind. We just want to help students connect with each other and get creative.”

For more information on Graphix OU and its food drive, visit GrizzOrgs or its Instagram page.