Faculty produced 424
peer-reviewed articles
student, college of liberal arts & sciences
founder, toys.calm
1. 3 million pounds of
materials were
recycled in 2007
34 Villanova students
received Fulbright
scholarships over the
past three decades
When it was time for Erin Puck to choose a college, she wanted a school where
students face rigorous academic challenges and demonstrate a strong commitment
to community outreach.
“Villanova was it,” she said. “It’s one of the few colleges where you actually feel
‘out of the loop’ if you’re not doing volunteer work. How many schools can say that?”
Villanova is a good fit for Erin, a senior political science major who was diagnosed
with a malignant brain tumor at the age of 12. Back then, she spent more than a
year in and out of hospitals, undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Today, she
raises the spirits of hospitalized children —and hundreds of thousands of dollars
for the cause — through the nonprofit organization she founded, Toys. Calm
( www.toyscalm.org).
While battling cancer, Erin returned to her hospital room one afternoon to find
a stuffed animal on her bed bearing the note, “We care about you.” The gift, given
with “no thanks necessary,” moved her. She often heard younger children crying
in the hospital corridors and pondered what she could do to help lessen their
fears and loneliness. She formed Toys.Calm to provide toys, games, books, movies
and laptop computers to hospitalized children. “I realized giving a child a toy or
doll could calm their fears just a little —sometimes more quickly and simply
than words.”
The organization Erin began as a seventh grader has donated to a dozen hospitals
in New York and New Jersey, places where she spent much time. Key to the program
is that toys are donated anonymously. “We have a strict ‘No thanks required,’
policy,” Erin said.
Recently, Erin organized Toys.Calm’s donation of 2,000 teddy bears to Jersey
City Medical Center —one for every child arriving there by ambulance. “The
bears calm the kids during the ride. You distract 2-year-olds for two seconds and
they forget why they were crying.”
Erin has spearheaded Toys.Calm throughout her four years at Villanova, where
she also made time for other community service activities, including being a Peer
Educator in the Office of Health Promotion.
“When you have cancer, you feel like you have no control over anything. It means
so much knowing somebody is thinking about you.”
As a cancer survivor, Erin knows it is important to help others. That’s why she feels
so at home at Villanova.
“One of Villanova’s great attributes is that it’s so outward-looking.”
