GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Make The Holidays Happier

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

Before finishing their final exams and leaving campus for winter break, nearly 20 UNC student-athletes piled in vans and traveled to the Orange County Social Services (OCSS) Center in Hillsborough, N.C., on Dec. 12 to deliver gifts for local children and adults.

The delivery marked the final step in the Share Your Holiday program, an annual partnership with the OCSS. In the weeks before, Tar Heel student-athletes gathered donations from team members, coaches and Athletic Department staff before buying presents for their sponsored individuals.

Ultimately, teams raised around $8,000 to purchase gifts for 32 people (30 children and two adults) who will hopefully enjoy a merrier Christmas.

"When you come to UNC and you're on a sports team, you can kind of start taking for granted everything that's given to you," said Will Eskew, a junior on the track and field team. "We have so many people who work here who just serve us every single day.

"So it's nice to take that opportunity whenever it comes around of being able to give some of your money away, go find gifts for other kids and go give them a Christmas they wouldn't have otherwise had."

All 28 varsity teams participate in some sort of holiday gift donation project, most in Share Your Holidays. This year, men's basketball partnered with Onslow County Christmas Cheer, helping families affected by Hurricane Florence.
And women's basketball adopted a Chapel Hill family, shopping for gifts then inviting the family to serve as honorary coaches for the UNCG game and have dinner afterward with the team.

Additionally, Carolina Athletics gathered toys at the Gonzaga men's basketball game and the UNCG women's basketball game, as well as at the department's holiday luncheon.

The Share Your Holidays program has been a Tar Heel mainstay for more than a decade. Each participating team has a point person who gathers donations and plans the team's shopping date. Eskew filled that role for the track and field team, which sponsored four children. The child he specifically shopped for was 6 months old.

Senior Leah Murray, the point person for the softball team, shopped for a child who was 9 months old. Like Eskew and the track team, Murray and her teammates bought more than just toys, also providing diapers and clothes.

"I think just being able to give them the same experience most of us were fortunate to have growing up is really important," Murray said. "Whether that's being able to help with clothes or a couple of them who wanted food for the holidays, too, I know that's really important to help the whole family. It's just being able to put a smile on their faces for Christmas."

During the delivery was when many student-athletes first learned the total number of individuals who Carolina teams had sponsored. Hearing that, Eskew said, put things further in perspective.

"It just kind of makes you step back for a second and realize everyone donating $5 or $10 can really make a huge difference," he said. "For 30 kids waking up on Christmas morning and getting presents they wouldn't have otherwise received, that's a huge deal. We don't see $5 that way, but it really can make a big difference."

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