With the holiday season around the corner, one group of students is preparing to make Christmas more enjoyable for children living in a place where presents aren’t always found under the tree.

More than five students will be traveling to Nicaragua in the hope of making children’s dreams a reality by delivering toys and other goods through December of Dreams, a humanitarian program centered at FIU.

“In our society, December is supposed to be a very happy time and in these undeveloped countries, unfortunately, it’s not always as positive as we see here,” said student coordinator Andrea Cruz, a sophomore majoring in journalism.

Created in 2005 by Christian Jarquin, who was then an Honors College student, December of Dreams is a growing project that collects school supplies and toys for impoverished children in Nicaragua.

“I was born into a top middle class family and then, after the war in Nicaragua, I lost everything,” said Jarquin, an FIU alumnus who currently serves as the program’s director. “I’m trying to give back to the children who are playing in the streets with sticks and stones like I was.”

Beginning in January, students gather the supplies and funds throughout the year by taking part in donation drives and events such as ExpoNica, a Nicaraguan cultural convention.

During their first year in 2005, students were able to reach out to about 1,500 children in the city of Granada. In the following year, they aided more than 3,000 young Nicaraguans.

Though not yet an official student organization, the project has been given support by faculty and students at the Honors College, as well as clubs such as Tau Sigma Alpha and Mentoring University Students for Excellence.

Cecile Houry, the coordinator of student enrichment at the Honors College, has been a growing supporter of the project.

“Anything that benefits the community and anything that could involve our students in community service and in developing their own skills is perfect,” she said.

The students involved hope to expand the project to other countries such as Honduras and Haiti to eventually serve the top 10 impoverished nations in the Americas.

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the American continent.

“We’re going to go right in the middle of it,” Cruz said. “It’s not just taking the toys to the children, the students are going to get the experience and see some cases of extreme poverty, the way the people live and the resources that they lack.

“A lot of times, for these kids, these are the first Christmas toys that they are receiving, we would like to be able to give them to those children. So every December, they know a group of students is going to come to bring them toys, play with them and help their community,” Cruz said.

December of Dreams will be taking part in ExpoNica on Nov. 13-15 at Tamiami Park. For more information, visit decenberofdreams.org or contact Christian Jarquin at christianjarquin@yahoo.com.