North Pole Visits Campus

EAST PEORIA — Illinois Central College students had the opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit on Nov. 26 as two reindeer paraded around the East Peoria campus courtyard.

ICC’s Campus Activity Board put together the event as part of the fundraising that helps support the Salvation Army. Christmas music and both free hot cocoa and candy canes brought students out into the cold to pet Santa’s friendly reindeers.

“I’ve never actually seen a reindeer before,” exclaimed Austin Lewis, 19, of Metamora. Lewis was among a crowd of students that were all smiles, waiting to get a picture with the reindeer.

“When they’re not living at the North Pole, they stay at Summerfield Zoo,” says their caretaker Rick Anderson of Belvidere.

The two reindeer, Dancer and Sugar Plum, attend approximately 75 events during their season that lasts from the second week in Nov. until Christmas Eve, says Anderson.

CAB president Patricia Sturdigant highlighted the underlying meaning of the event by saying, “We got Christmas around the corner, we just got rid of Thanksgiving so it’s just a giving holiday. We’re asking donations for the Salvation Army. We’re trying to help the kids that can’t afford Christmas presents, so everything we’re doing today, fundraising, goes straight to the Salvation Army.”