BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh student-athletes took the opportunity to give back to the community Thursday evening as the Lehigh C.O.A.C.H. (Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping) program directed its tenth annual Adopt-A-Family event inside Lehigh’s Hall of Fame, located in Taylor Gym. For this program, each athletic team at Lehigh adopted an underprivileged family to help share in the holiday season. The teams raised money throughout the semester to purchase holiday presents for their adopted family, and on Thursday, the teams presented those gifts to their families. This year, Lehigh student-athletes raised over $30,000, the most ever for the Adopt-a-Family event.
Mo McReynolds, a junior on Lehigh’s volleyball team, gave her thoughts on the entire evening. “We do this every year. There are a lot of families in Bethlehem that can’t provide certain gifts for Christmas, so we just do our best to help out the community with the C.O.A.C.H. program. It’s our annual event, and we put a lot of work into it every year, and we make 18 families’ holiday seasons a lot better than they would have been.”
She continued, “A lot of people like to look at the kids’ faces when they’re opening the presents, but for me, I look at the parents’ faces. It’s really special to know that they can get help also, and that they’re so open to this. They just want the best for their families and they’re allowing us to do this for them. It’s just a really special experience for everyone involved.”
The teams met with their families, as children were allowed to open some presents on the spot. Santa Claus was on hand to spread holiday cheer, along with the Lehigh Mountain Hawk, and food and drinks were provided to make the evening special for all parties involved.
“This is the biggest event of the year where we try to help these families have a happy Christmas,” junior Andrew Berger, a member of the Mountain Hawks baseball program explained. “These are tough times with the economy, and we just want to give back to the community. It’s a great experience for all of us, and these families love it. It touches everyone, because they don’t have what a lot of people have.” He added, “Its all big smiles when they open the presents. You see all these little kids here running around getting food and opening up presents. Sometimes these kids haven’t even had Christmases in the past few years, so for them to come in and see mounds of presents all over the place their eyes light up. I’ve seen some moms tear up too.”
By participating in community outreach programs, like Adopt-A-Family, many Lehigh student-athletes are doing their best to make a difference in the community around them.
Lehigh soccer players Alex Warren, a junior on the women’s team, and Adam Gazda, a senior on the men’s team, spoke of their favorite part of the Adopt-a-Family event. “I think my favorite part is getting to meet with the families and talk to them about what they do for fun,” explained Warren. “Our kid really liked basketball but he didn’t have a ball, so we got him one and it made him really happy,” Warren explained. “I live on East Fifth Street, and my family lives on East Fourth Street. They’re just down the street from us but we don’t see them, so it’s good to just come out here and meet them.”
Gazda added his thoughts, “I think the best part is when the parents see how happy their kids are, knowing that they may not have been able to get them some of the things we got them. It’s good to see how excited the parents are for their kids. We do it every year, and it’s good because some of the families in this area aren’t as fortunate as a lot of us guys were growing up. It’s just good to put a smile on some of the little kids faces that normally wouldn’t have these gifts or this many gifts, especially during the holiday season.”
Tenth Annual Adopt-a-Family, December 4, 2008
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