It's the Holiday season and the George Mason student-athletes are doing their part to make it a better one for some area families with their fourth annual “Giving Back for the Holidays” campaign that was capped off Sunday night with a Holiday Dinner.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) sponsored several community service events, including the Salvation Army's 2015 Angel Tree Program. Angel Tree is a personalized holiday assistance program in which individuals or groups purchase new clothing and toys for a deserving child, ages 4-12 (or “Angel”) in need.
Teams paired up to collect funds to provide several items that the child had on their wish list ornament hanging on the Salvation Army tree, to ensure that they are making Christmas extra special for them. The Patriots student-athletes delivered the gifts on the children's wish lists on Monday that included bicycles, helmets, clothes, scooters and Legos.
SAAC also sponsored a food drive during the month and asked each student-athlete to bring two canned food items to the holiday dinner or cash to purchase additional food. The teams collected the food and delivered it to St. Leo's food pantry or local homeless shelters.
“The Angel Tree was very popular among the student-athletes last year and we wanted to continue that great tradition of providing the community children with their wishes for Christmas,” said SAAC President Brice Colcombe. “The student-athletes are proud to give back to this community that supports us so well throughout the year.” The George Mason rowing team also lent a hand in the community recently, participating in the annual Wreaths Across America tradition at Arlington National Cemetery. The Patriots helped lay remembrance wreaths on several gravesites for the Holiday season. Each year, Wreaths Across America and thousands of volunteers lay wreaths on over 435,000 gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery. Another Mason team to help make the Holiday season better for area children was the women's basketball team that took part in Kiwanis Club of Fairfax's “Meals for Young Minds” program which provides weekend meals for elementary school children who would not normally have food. The Patriots helped prepare 625 packages of food that were distributed to City of Fairfax's Elementary Schools. Each child received a gallon-sized bag filled with child-friendly, nonperishable, nutritious food items to last over the weekend. The program was founded in 2010 to support local children in Fairfax.
