SE: K-State Student-Athletes Donate Nearly $2,800 for Adopt-A-Family Program
Dec 24, 2019 | Sports Extra, Athlete Services
By Corbin McGuire
Lavaun Stephenson felt like Santa Claus walking in, garbage bags full of presents on the K-State track and field sophomore's back. She felt a rush of warmth walking out, seeing a small home for a family of five consumed by boxes and gift bags.
Stephenson, a Jamaica native, and a handful of other K-State student-athletes delivered presents to a local family as part of K-State SAAC's annual Adopt-A-Family program two weeks ago. The family, with three children (a 5-month-old boy, 5-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy), will open them on Wednesday.
A smile lit up Stephenson's face even thinking about both moments.
"It was a great experience," Stephenson said. "When (the mother) saw the amount of gifts we brought into the house, it made her day, like entirely made her day. It was really heart-warming."
K-State student-athletes raised nearly $2,800 amongst themselves to buy gifts for this family, through a partnership with Junior League of the Flint Hills. It was the most money raised for this SAAC program in four years and was more than three times the amount the Wildcats collected last year.
"I think Christmas is something we can all share, no matter what country you come from. Christmas is something we like to celebrate with family," K-State women's golf junior Niamh McSherry, from Ireland, said. "I think everyone enjoys Christmas so much that they want to be able to give that to a family that doesn't get the opportunity to do it as much.
"It was really uplifting for us to be able to walk away from there knowing, as an athletic department, that we put so much in to helping someone's Christmas."
From start to finish, this is a program led by student-athletes.
After donating the money, different teams broke up the exciting task of shopping for each family member, using lists of needs and wants the parents compiled. Mikaela Bennett, a senior for K-State rowing, was part of the group that shopped for the family's baby.
"I think it's really awesome. We had some teams that donated way more than they have in the past," Bennett said. "We went shopping for the five-month-old with like $500. We had a lot of money. So, it was awesome just to be able to really get whatever and money not be an issue in what we can get."
Bennett added that part of what makes this SAAC program unique to the other community service projects K-State student-athletes participate in is it's not entirely about needs. On top of purchasing a large amount of diapers and other necessities like winter clothing and shoes, K-State's student-athletes had plenty of money left to buy the children some toys and games.
"Generally, in our community service, we're really focused on needs of the community, like, 'What do they need? What are things that everyone needs to thrive?' The cool thing about Adopt-A-Family is it goes into wants," Bennett said. "While there are things you need as a kid, there are so many things you want and aspire to have. Just being able to provide that for kids, provide their wants, provide cool stuff…it's cool to have the toys, the clothes, things you want and things that make you feel special and more important."
Before delivering, K-State student-athletes wrapped the presents together. They wore festive sweaters, ate holiday-themed snacks and figured out wrapping presents was more challenging — for some — than their respective sport.
"You can see what everyone else got and, also, it's kind of funny to see how good people are at wrapping because some people are not the best at wrapping the presents and some things are very hard to wrap. I feel like we used a lot of bags," Bennett said, with a laugh. "It was just kind of cool seeing everyone having fun, everyone feeling the same types of feelings that I felt, just really happy to be able to do this and provide so much to a family and give them a good Christmas."
Lavaun Stephenson felt like Santa Claus walking in, garbage bags full of presents on the K-State track and field sophomore's back. She felt a rush of warmth walking out, seeing a small home for a family of five consumed by boxes and gift bags.
Stephenson, a Jamaica native, and a handful of other K-State student-athletes delivered presents to a local family as part of K-State SAAC's annual Adopt-A-Family program two weeks ago. The family, with three children (a 5-month-old boy, 5-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy), will open them on Wednesday.
A smile lit up Stephenson's face even thinking about both moments.
"It was a great experience," Stephenson said. "When (the mother) saw the amount of gifts we brought into the house, it made her day, like entirely made her day. It was really heart-warming."
K-State student-athletes raised nearly $2,800 amongst themselves to buy gifts for this family, through a partnership with Junior League of the Flint Hills. It was the most money raised for this SAAC program in four years and was more than three times the amount the Wildcats collected last year.
"I think Christmas is something we can all share, no matter what country you come from. Christmas is something we like to celebrate with family," K-State women's golf junior Niamh McSherry, from Ireland, said. "I think everyone enjoys Christmas so much that they want to be able to give that to a family that doesn't get the opportunity to do it as much.
"It was really uplifting for us to be able to walk away from there knowing, as an athletic department, that we put so much in to helping someone's Christmas."
From start to finish, this is a program led by student-athletes.
After donating the money, different teams broke up the exciting task of shopping for each family member, using lists of needs and wants the parents compiled. Mikaela Bennett, a senior for K-State rowing, was part of the group that shopped for the family's baby.
"I think it's really awesome. We had some teams that donated way more than they have in the past," Bennett said. "We went shopping for the five-month-old with like $500. We had a lot of money. So, it was awesome just to be able to really get whatever and money not be an issue in what we can get."
Bennett added that part of what makes this SAAC program unique to the other community service projects K-State student-athletes participate in is it's not entirely about needs. On top of purchasing a large amount of diapers and other necessities like winter clothing and shoes, K-State's student-athletes had plenty of money left to buy the children some toys and games.
"Generally, in our community service, we're really focused on needs of the community, like, 'What do they need? What are things that everyone needs to thrive?' The cool thing about Adopt-A-Family is it goes into wants," Bennett said. "While there are things you need as a kid, there are so many things you want and aspire to have. Just being able to provide that for kids, provide their wants, provide cool stuff…it's cool to have the toys, the clothes, things you want and things that make you feel special and more important."
Before delivering, K-State student-athletes wrapped the presents together. They wore festive sweaters, ate holiday-themed snacks and figured out wrapping presents was more challenging — for some — than their respective sport.
"You can see what everyone else got and, also, it's kind of funny to see how good people are at wrapping because some people are not the best at wrapping the presents and some things are very hard to wrap. I feel like we used a lot of bags," Bennett said, with a laugh. "It was just kind of cool seeing everyone having fun, everyone feeling the same types of feelings that I felt, just really happy to be able to do this and provide so much to a family and give them a good Christmas."
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