On Sunday, Nov. 8, Shop with a Bulldog hosted its annual event at Cedar Shoals High School, serving nearly 500 elementary school students with the help of more than 700 University of Georgia student volunteers. Through months of fundraising leading up to the event, UGA students raised more than $100,000, allowing the organization to purchase approximately 3,000 holiday gifts for the children.

Shop with a Bulldog, founded in 2009, is one of the largest nonprofit student-run organizations on campus. Each year, the organization partners with 15 local elementary schools and raises funds for its annual November event.

Earlier this week, UGA student volunteers, known as mentors, were paired with local elementary school students for a day of shopping at Walmart, where they helped purchase both wants and needs. The items they bought ranged from toys and clothing to shoes and undergarments. After shopping, the mentors and students returned to Cedar Shoals High School, where they spent the remainder of the day sharing a meal, wrapping their newly chosen gifts and celebrating together through games, laughter and fun activities.

The annual event is made possible by the efforts of the organization’s executive board, led this year by Executive Director Nando Arriola. This year’s event was especially meaningful for Arriola, a fourth-year Franklin College of Arts and Sciences student majoring in biomedical physiology and minoring in Spanish who has been involved with Shop with a Bulldog since his first year at UGA.

“Today was a real full circle moment for me,” Arriola said. “Growing up, I remember receiving presents at my school and how excited I was to open them. Now, leading Shop with a Bulldog, I get to share that same joy with other children alongside a passionate team that puts so much heart into this day. Seeing the children’s smiles and sharing those moments with my team makes it especially meaningful.”

Driven by Arriola’s own journey and heart for connection, this year, Shop with a Bulldog strengthened its outreach to UGA student organizations, sorority and fraternity chapters, as well as service groups to recruit mentors from more corners of campus. That sense of community extended to Carter Nichols, Shop with a Bulldog’s director of First Year Council, who represented the organization and was crowned this year’s UGA Homecoming queen.

That commitment to community also guides how Shop with a Bulldog supports its participants, working to ensure Spanish-speaking children and children with disabilities feel welcomed and included. All mentors complete mandatory training before event day to help them meet children’s diverse needs, led by Elizabeth Wilkey, Shop with a Bulldog’s director of mentors.

“Shop with a Bulldog truly holds a special place in my heart,” said Wilkey, a third-year Terry College of Business student majoring in risk management insurance and business management and minoring in consumer economics. “Having the opportunity to work with the Clarke County School District and seeing all the kids on event day is amazing. It has really made Athens feel like more of a second home to me.”

Wilkey isn’t the only student who finds purpose through her work with the student-led nonprofit. Abby Turner, a fourth-year Terry College student majoring in accounting and the organization’s director of event operations, joined Shop with a Bulldog as a freshman and returns every year to see the meaningful impact of her team’s fundraising and hard work.

“What makes Shop with a Bulldog unique is that you really see your direct impact on the Athens community,” Turner said. “It’s what makes event day so special because you get to see and interact with the kids that you fundraise for.”

What began years ago with just 46 children has grown into an impactful annual event serving hundreds of local elementary students. As this year’s event wrapped up, every child returned home with armfuls of gifts and stories to share about a day filled with laughter and celebration, while their UGA student mentors left with a deeper connection to the community they call home.