GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Help Make The Holidays Happier

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

They met outside the Loudermilk Center for Excellence and piled into vans, each one headed to Hillsborough with gifts aplenty.

On Dec. 13, 34 UNC student-athletes traveled to the Orange County Social Services Center to drop off toys and other gifts for local children, the culminating act of this year's Share Your Holiday program, which is an annual event for Tar Heel teams.

Student-athletes donated their own money for the effort. And with the assistance of some coaches and Department of Athletics staff, Tar Heel teams raised more than $8,000, which was then used to sponsor 34 children.

Each participating team features a point person who gathers donations and plans the team's shopping date. For the track and field team, senior Kenny Selmon served in that role for the first time this year. "It was just kind of making sure everybody understood why we do this," he said. "Our team is very receptive to stuff like that."

The track and field team ultimately sponsored seven children, three girls and four boys. And when members of the team went shopping on Dec. 2, 21 attended, including head coach Harlis Meaders.

Those 21 people split into seven groups, Selmon said. Each received a wish list for the child they were shopping for, and that included other pertinent information, such as the child's favorite color and clothing size.

Selmon said a bicycle and a scooter topped the wish list of the boy his group shopped for. And he'll find both under the Christmas tree.

"Although those two gifts took up a big portion of the money we had available," Selmon said, "we knew he would enjoy seeing both of those gifts together for one Christmas and it would kind of do a lot for him, at least we hope."

Senior Marie McCool, the point person for the women's lacrosse team, said she and her group also tried to check off as many wish-list items as possible when they went shopping for their sponsored children on Dec. 4. But they also placed a strong emphasis on buying clothes.

"Toys and books are great," McCool said. "But I think just having a lot of clothes is super important because these families can't really afford that much. I think clothes and shoes and winter coats were kind of our priority."

As they shopped, both Selmon and McCool said they often thought about the child they were shopping for and imagined what their reaction would be like to the gifts. And they said their teammates did the same.

"When we were picking out clothes," McCool said, "one of my teammates was like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is so cute. We need to get her this. I think she's going to love this.' We're just really excited to be doing something good for these children."

Players Mentioned

Marie McCool

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