Heels Help Kids Prepare For Halloween Holiday

With its first game just eight days away, the North Carolina women's basketball team is focused on preparing for the season. But after wrapping up practice on Wednesday afternoon, the Tar Heels shifted their attention to preparing for Halloween.

The team headed across campus to UNC Children's Hospital, where they helped kids get ready to leave being patients behind for a day and instead become Harry Potter, Captain America or Wonder Woman. With a wide variety of new costumes (provided by the hospital) arrayed in wagons, the Tar Heels went from room to room on several floors. They talked with kids and helped them pick out costumes to wear Thursday, giving them some Halloween fun even though they have to be in the hospital.

"Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays – dressing up, putting on makeup – and that's something you can take for granted," said senior guard Olivia Smith, who was also celebrating her birthday on Wednesday. "These kids just want to be healthy. The fact this hospital can make Halloween more fun for them is something super special, that they can still have that experience and excitement."

Now that the kids have costumes, it's time fun. Throughout the morning on Halloween, UNC student-athletes from the women's lacrosse, men and women's golf, baseball, diving, rowing, football, track and field, men's soccer and field hockey teams will be at the hospital for "reverse trick or treating." In past years Carolina Athletics has thrown a "Heeloween" party at the Children's Hospital, decorating the playroom and welcoming kids for crafts and games. In some cases it was hard for the kids to be that mobile, so this year the Tar Heels will go to them, trick or treating from room to room and leaving trinkets behind at every stop.

Thanks to the Tar Heels' Wednesday night trip, today's visitors will be greeted by lots of dressed up kids. One will be Riley, a little girl who picked out a pink tutu and butterfly wings, then used her wand to turn the women's basketball players into giraffes and ladybugs while charming everyone around her with her bubbly personality. "I'm glad we got to give her some more excitement on the day before Halloween," Smith said.

While some patients were excited to select costumes and chat about Halloween and basketball, others didn't feel up to talking, driving home the serious nature of their conditions

"If these athletes get anything out of their visit tonight, whether it be from Riley or one of the other patients, it's that this can be an eye-opening and sometimes sobering experience," said Mary Brooks Rice, the Director of Special Events for UNC Children's and the team's guide on Wednesday night. "It's not always fluffy and colorful and fun, but it is making a difference in these kids' lives. Sometimes when we get to the room, the kids aren't outgoing and they don't feel like chatting, but the pictures and the posters we leave behind end up getting up on the wall and then they start watching the athletes, so it really is a nice thing."

As the Tar Heels left the hospital on Wednesday, headed out into a rainy evening, they took along thoughts of the patients they'd met, and the privilege it was to be able to help make the day a little better for them.

"I really enjoyed it because I love giving kids the opportunity to experience things they wouldn't experience since they're in the hospital, making sure they don't feel left out," junior forward Jaelynn Murray said. "We get to help these kids and show them that other people are here for them. I love the platform that we have, that we can do things like this."

Players Mentioned

Jaelynn Murray

Olivia Smith

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