It may be a new year, but one group at Sam Houston State University was in the giving spirit this holiday season.

Lambda Alpha Epsilon, a National Criminal Justice Association, delivered a $5,000 check to the Huntsville Police Department as a way of saying thanks for their efforts last semester.

“It was kind of a thank you for all they did during the fall,” Lambda Alpha Epsilon community service chairman junior Kylah Allison said. “I would totally do it again. Hopefully, this is a start of an annual event that we do.”

Allison organized a one-day “Phone-a-Thon” in an attempt to gather donations. The group of 29 participants dialed phones of those in the Huntsville area and were proud of the response they received.

“We set a goal,” Allison said. “Our goal was to raise as much as we could and no matter what all $5,000 of it was going to the police department. All 29 people asked 10 or more people to donate to the Huntsville Police. Some made $300 donations and some made as little as $5. That just goes to show how willing people were to donate to our department.”

Lambda Alpha Epsilon is attached to a Criminal Justice program that now ranks third globally as of last December by the Center of World University Rankings. According to USA Today, US News and World Reports, SHSU also has the No. 1 Best Online Graduate Criminal Justice program in the country. SHSU’s College of Criminal Justice continues to set national standards in the field in both research and practice. Those standards are displayed by acts such as Lambda Alpha Epsilon’s donation.

“I am pleased, but not surprised, by this generous show of support for our criminal justice professionals,” Dean of the College of Criminal Justice Phillip M. Lyons said. “I think it speaks to the level of commitment our students have to the field they’ve chosen to enter.”