Equestrian Team Gets Into the Holiday Spirit of Giving

The South Carolina equestrian team got into the holiday spirit of giving by adopting a local family to make sure a mother and her three children would have a Merry Christmas. The Gamecocks once again worked through Families Helping Families to help make some holiday wishes come true.
 
“Families Helping Families allows you to adopt a family for the holidays and purchase gifts for them,” said junior Kiersten Beckner, who is studying public health. “Every year, the team adopts a family that is in need, and we all pitch in money and then go buy gifts for them.”

“Basically, it’s like being a Santa,” added sophomore Emma Lane, who is studying sport and entertainment management.

Families Helping Families in the Midlands provides assistance to more than 3,600 families in need of food, clothing, and Christmas gifts and the estimated value of this assistance is nearly $1.5 million. The gifts are taken to the Families Helping Families warehouse where it is then distributed to the proper family who had applied for the program and provided a wish-list.

“I think it helps bring our team together to show there are people in need, and it keeps us from just focusing on ourselves.”
– Kiersten Beckner

“This year our family was a mom and her three kids,” Beckner said. “It was a single mom, and one of the kids was 10 months, and the others were five and 10 years old. We split the team into four groups and then all went on a different night to shop for each of them. I know we were able to buy everything on their wish-list and at the end we were able to also give them a food gift card to Walmart.”

“We bought a bike,” Lane said. “The mom needed some pots and pans. We bought a lot of clothes and some Nerf guns and some other toys.”

They also provided some other helpful items such as diapers and cleaning supplies.

Each of the Gamecocks donated their own money to the cause, and it’s a project they’re happy to take part in ever year.

“Our team is a family,” Lane said. “For us to be a family and give to another family is really important. I’m amazed at how much people donate. It becomes a team-bonding sort of thing.”

“I think it helps bring our team together to show there are people in need, and it keeps us from just focusing on ourselves,” Beckner said.

The team wrapped the gifts and dropped them off for distribution to the family. As the student-athletes take exams this week before returning home for the holidays with their own families, they’re glad to know they’ve made a difference for a family in need.

“The group that was buying for the little boy ended up donating a little extra money so he could get a ton of gifts!” Beckner said. “It feels really good because those kids might not have been able to have much of anything. She’s a single mom, and she works a lot. It’s hard for her to give all her kids more than just the basic needs.

“There’s still a need. At the beginning of the month, I think the folks at Families Helping Families said there were still around 600 families that needed to be adopted and 30 disabled adults. There is a lot of need.”