But he didn't want any of it.
Angelica Suarez, 25, told 8-year-old Pablo, a boy from the slums of Medellín, Colombia, to ask for whatever he wanted, and his "friends" from the University of Florida would do anything to get it for him.
"I want a hug," Pablo said.
Pablo's answer changed Suarez's life.
A year before Suarez met Pablo, when she was vice president at UF's Colombian Student Association (COLSA) in 2003, she found she "had a very big problem," she said. "I didn't like throwing parties for no reason."
COLSA was renowned for its parties, which attracted scores of people and raised hundreds of dollars.
She decided to use this money for a good cause, and Children Beyond Our Borders (CBOB) was born.
CBOB started as a small committee.
It then developed into a UF student organization.
Now, six years later, it is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) planning its sixth trip to Colombia from August 8-22, 2009.
Suarez, founder and now vice-president of CBOB, said in her first trip with CBOB she found the inspiration to keep working hard for the organization.
"It changed my life," she said. "Pablo made me understand my reason for living."
CBOB's first trip was in the summer of 2004.
Five UF students took 300 pounds of clothes and 200 pounds of toys to Medellín, Colombia, which they had raised during the school year.
The NGO carries out two annual projects in Colombia: one to Medellin, in August, and another in Cartagena, in May.
"I am debating who has more fun, the kids or the volunteers," she said. "The kids teach us more things than we can teach them."
Musician and singer Sandra Esmeralda Rivera also started her own not-for-profit initiative.
She created Más Allá de las Fronteras, or Beyond Frontiers, a traveling musical workshop in towns around Colombia's borders for children who have been displaced by civil war.
In 2003, Rivera traveled with her husband, John Triana, and other members of her band, to Puerto Obaldía, a Panamanian fishing town that can only be accessed by boat.
The town was a ramshackle collection of about 50 huts, with no water or electricity, Rivera said.
"Many of the kids couldn't read or write -some of them could barely speak right," she said. "These children were basically growing in the wild."
For two weeks, Beyond Frontiers taught children how to play different instruments, Rivera said.
These instruments- guitars, flutes, tambourines, maracas, and others - they gave to the children as a present at the end of the workshop.
Though Rivera gives these instruments to the children, the effects of volunteering many times "are not tangible," said Rew Woodruff, life skills coordinator and career counselor for University Athletic Association (UAA) student athletes at UF.
Woodruff helps coordinate activities between student athletes and children from local schools.
"It's more of an emotional thing," Woodruff said. "You can always say you're too busy, but in reality, there's always time."
Students who want to volunteer helping children abroad can register with CBOB in November for the May 2010 trip to Cartagena.
Volunteer service can also complement students' careers.
At CBOB, students can work in public relations, marketing, program development and grant writing.
The level of involvement depends on the student's enthusiasm, Suarez said.
"We try to see the person's individual skills," she said. "The experience is not only to go outside the country and see places; it also allows you to expand your creativity."
Suarez said volunteers who travel undergo a transformation. Sometimes, the effect is more amazing in the volunteers than in the children.
This is especially true of Suarez, who decided to do her master's degree in public administration because she understood this was the way to help children like Pablo.
"I know I can die in peace now," Suarez said. "I know someone will continue helping these children."
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