Lucas: From The Heart

By Adam Lucas

It's not easy to capture the attention of 18 college students, especially 18 college students with as many demands on their time as 18 college students who happen to play basketball for the University of North Carolina.

But as the Tar Heels assembled in a meeting room at a local Target on Wednesday afternoon, the room fell completely silent when Joey Powell addressed the group.

Powell is the executive director of the Me Fine Foundation, a nonprofit that attempts to ease the financial burdens on the caregivers of children who are dealing with a medical crisis. To date, Me Fine has helped over 1,800 families who have received treatment at UNC Children's Hospital, Duke Children's Medical Center, or WakeMed Children's Hospital.

The Tar Heels' shopping trip is an annual holiday tradition--funded by the sale of the team-autographed basketballs each fall--and this year marks the second time they've shopped for Me Fine families. Each player shops for one child who is receiving extensive medical treatment; the players receives the child's age, gender, and a couple of their wish list items. Powell's personal context was powerful.

"You're giving these kids a Christmas," he told the players before they began shopping. "Don't take lightly that you are delivering them a Christmas. This may be their last Christmas, so you're doing very meaningful work for these families."

In theory, the budget was $150 per person. But after Powell's heartfelt address, which ended with multiple wet eyes in the room, several players were looking for loopholes.

Leaky Black, for example, was assigned a 16-year-old boy. But the boy's wish list included PlayStation 3 games. That game system was released in 2006. Black wanted to find a way to get him the more modern system, a PS4, and intense negotiations ensued between Black, Eric Hoots, and Sean May (longtime readers might recall that Hoots and May have been experts at this particular experience for 15 years now).

Several aisles over, Justin Pierce--on his first shopping trip with the Tar Heels--was roaming the store with the calculator open on his phone, trying to make sure he maximized his $150. "It's very powerful to know what kind of impact we're having," Pierce said. "Helping out in the community is important, and being able to have this type of personal connection makes it even more meaningful."

It's also an educational process for some of the players. Some of the children of members of the program were on hand and conducted occasional consultations about whether a particular gift idea was suitable. Anthony Harris needed some outside assistance to determine the function of an "activity saucer," which was on his list. K.J. Smith had never heard of LOL Surprise toys.

The shopping instructions required some occasional creative thinking. Christian Keeling's sisters are college aged, but he was shopping for an 11-year-old girl. "I'm trying to think like my sisters would have thought at that age," he said. "It's so worth it to be able to have an impact with something bigger than basketball. I take it very seriously, because this is our chance to make sure someone less fortunate can have a smile on their face on Christmas."

In addition to the wish list items for the children in the Me Fine families, the basketball program also provides gift cards for the adult caregivers. That's how the afternoon total quickly ballooned over $4,000, finally hitting $4,265.

The last player to come through the line was Ryan McAdoo. The Target cashiers in Carolina's designated checkout line were effusive about the experience. "It's really impressive how much all of you put your heart into this," they told him. "We can tell it really meant something to you."

McAdoo is well-known for being efficient with his words. He smiled as he finished labeling his purchases so the Me Fine Foundation can deliver them to the families this weekend. "It sure did," he said.

To find out more about how you can join the Tar Heels in helping the Me Fine Foundation, click here.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Leaky Black

Anthony Harris

Christian Keeling

Ryan McAdoo

Justin Pierce

K.J. Smith

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