GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Team Up To Make The Holidays Brighter

Before heading home for the holidays, Tar Heel student-athletes delivered gifts to Orange County Social Services.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Team Up To Make The Holidays Brighter

December 23, 2019 | Baseball, Field Hockey, Men's Golf, Men's Lacrosse, Men's Soccer, Men's Tennis, Softball, Women's Golf, Women's Gymnastics, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Rowing, Women's Soccer, Women's Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling, Cross Country, Track & Field, Fencing, Swimming & Diving, Featured Writers, Student-Athlete Development

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By: Pat James

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

For more than 20 years, Orange County Social Services (OCSS) has been helping families in need with holiday assistance, bringing joy into their lives this time of year.

Carolina Athletics plays a role in that, partnering with OCSS for the annual Share Your Holiday program, the longest-running Christmastime project in which UNC student-athletes participate.

Each year, student-athletes gather donations from teammates, coaches and staff, then buy gifts for the children and adults their teams sponsor. This year, Tar Heel teams raised enough money to sponsor 28 individuals. And on Dec. 12, 24 student-athletes representing a variety of team traveled to the OCSS Center in Hillsborough to deliver the presents they purchased.

"It's definitely fun because every year you get a new kid, so you usually get to shop for different things," said Mia Fradenburg, a senior on the volleyball team. "But I think the time of year is good, too. With final exams, this is just a mini break from that.

"It makes you really grateful for everything you do have. And I think this is a really good time for all the sports to come together and do something as a whole."

All 28 varsity teams participate in some sort of holiday gift donation project, most in Share Your Holiday. For the second time, the men's basketball team partnered with 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. Meanwhile, the football team created packages that will go to needy kids through Operation Christmas Child.

Additionally, Department of Athletics staff members donated toys at the department's holiday luncheon, filling six large bins with games, dolls and other fun items for the OCSS Toy Chest.

With the Share Your Holiday program, each team has a point person who collects donations and plans the shopping date. James Courtney, who held that role for the men's swimming and diving team, said he and Brooke Bauer, the point person for the women's swimming and diving team, hoped to raise a combined $400. Ultimately, they surpassed that.

"It's so cool to know you're making a difference in those kids' lives," said Courtney, a junior. "With the shopping, even though it was on a Sunday afternoon where I probably should've been studying for exams, it's just so fun to walk around Walmart and Target with your teammates, knowing these toys are going to make these people so happy."

Courtney said the swimming and diving teams sponsored two children, a 10-year-old girl and a 1-month-old boy. As he and his teammates shopped, he thought about how much the gifts will mean to the children and their families.

It wasn't until delivery day, though, that he learned most of the kids receiving presents through the Share Your Holiday program are in foster care and directly in social services.

"When you hear that this was their Christmas, it makes you really appreciate everything you grew up with," Courtney said. "I'm very fortunate. Whatever contribution you make, whether it's a couple of dollars, going shopping or going out (to deliver the gifts), it's all important."

Before she even enrolled at Carolina, Fradenburg, from Durham, said she learned how to use her platform as a student-athlete to help her community, assisting with the volleyball team's Special Olympics clinic as a junior in high school.

She made the most of that throughout her college career. And by assisting with the delivery of the gifts to the OCSS Center, she completed her final community service act at UNC.

"I think (giving back to the community is) something you don't expect when you get recruited and you start," said Fradenburg, who graduated on Dec. 15. "But then you see everyone around you is doing this, and it comes with being a UNC athlete. It's just awesome to have the ability to help so many people because of playing a sport here."