Lehigh wraps up 15th annual Adopt-A-Family

Everything started with an idea from head softball coach Fran Troyan, who shared the idea with Community Relations Coordinator Roseann Corsi.

With that, Adopt-A-Family was born.

That idea has turned into an initiative which affects the lives of hundreds, year after year. On Thursday evening, Lehigh Athletics held its 15th annual Adopt-A-Family event which featured laughter, tears of joy and gratitude… what the holiday season is all about.

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Every Lehigh team "adopts" a local underprivileged family and provides them a Christmas. Thursday was the pinnacle event as the Mountain Hawks met their families and provided them with gifts. The event was a success due in large part to months and months of planning.

From obtaining donations to shopping for gifts, wrapping and more, Thursday was the reward for all the hard work.

"These families come in thinking they're going to get one thing and you give them a whole Christmas," said field hockey senior Erinn Bonshak who is one of three Adopt-A-Family leaders this year. "It's amazing to see their reaction; you feel their reaction and feel so delighted and thankful.

"You had the chance to have a Christmas [growing up], and now you have the chance to give a Christmas to somebody else," she continued. "It's really rewarding because you get to see that smile on a little kid's face. Whether you'll have a Christmas is not something you should have to worry about as a child."

Bonshak, junior Bree Buysse (women's lacrosse) and sophomore Liz Sharlow (women's basketball) were the coordinators, who led the running of this year's event.

"I just had a mom here. She came in and she saw all these people with all these gifts and she was like 'Am I supposed to be at this table?' I said yes and she started to cry right away," said Rosa Carides-Hof, Community School Coordinator at Donegan Elementary. "It's an amazing thing. The kids from Lehigh go above and beyond, getting all the donations and all the gifts.

"Some of the families are overwhelmed by all the gifts," Carides-Hof continued. "They don't know what to say or what to do. It took that family five minutes to get closer. The mother just froze right there. That's the beauty of it, having the Lehigh students giving back to the community. They are coming here from all over the country and they adopt this community (Bethlehem) and they serve this community."

Flash back to the late 1990s. Troyan first had the idea when he overhead two women at a grocery store talking about how they wouldn't be able to have a Christmas because they didn't have enough money to buy gifts. He converged with Corsi, and the rest is history.

The first year, the Lehigh student-athletes bought the gifts and delivered them, but by year two, they met the families which has become a tradition and something everyone gets excited about. The event is just as impactful for the student-athletes as it is for the families.

"Last year, there was this one little girl who was really shy," said Buysse. "You could tell she was happy, but I spent some time with her. We later received a thank you letter from the family and the little girl wrote a specific note to me; it was so gratifying to know you made a difference in the life of a child."

These Mountain Hawks are making a tremendous impact in the lives of the adopted families. This year, 55 families were adopted and divided between the athletic teams, Lehigh University departments and fraternities and sororities.

"Each team has one family. We try to match family size based on team size," said Buysse. "So the bigger teams get bigger families because there are more people to shop for them. The money for each family is also allotted based on the number of children. We do a certain dollar amount per child."

These Lehigh student-athletes (under the guidance of Corsi) are responsible for overseeing the entire Adopt-A-Family and not just the athletics component.

The planning began over the summer with "Christmas in July" as the Mountain Hawks got a jump-start on the fundraising process. From the first day of classes, the Student-Athlete Council began working towards the 15th annual event and selected Bonshak (a senior), Buysse (a junior) and Sharlow (a sophomore) as leaders.

"People see it for the first time and love this event then they want to be a part of it," said Corsi.

"Last year, I was thrown into the fire because I didn't really know what to do and I'd ask a ton of questions," said Bonshak. "This year, I had people asking me questions. It's so different having that experience under your belt. We all put our input out there which is good. We all have a lot of ideas and I think that dynamic is what made this year so successful."

One reason for fundraising success is the feeling of ownership across the teams. More than just Student-Athlete Council needs to contribute; all the student-athletes across the 25 Lehigh Athletics teams need to be on board.

After raising nearly $30,000, the student-athletes shop for gifts. This year, they shopped at Marshall's in Bethlehem on Sunday, Nov. 10. A lot goes into the shopping day. Lehigh received names and essential information of families from four schools: Donegan Elementary School, Holy Infancy, Fountain Hill and Broughal.

"We ask each school to meet with the families and provide a list for us to shop," said Corsi. "They provide their needs, always a lot of coats, hats, gloves, boots and warm clothes. We try to concentrate on those items. Then we also concentrate on the fun part of Christmas - children receiving toys."

The student-athletes certainly get excited about the entire process, including selecting gifts. At Marshalls, you could hear frequent communication between each other to make sure they picked out the perfect mix of presents.

After the gifts are picked out, the next step is wrapping which took place on Tuesday (Dec. 3). Holiday music was playing as the student-athletes wrapped the gifts they bought.

The pinnacle event was Thursday, which began with the Lehigh departments meeting their families at 4:30 p.m. followed by the fraternities and sororities at 6 p.m. Athletics closed it out at 7:30 as all 25 athletic teams converged on Donegan Elementary School, coming together as a group. Santa was on hand, as was Lehigh's mascot Clutch Hawk. In addition, sophomore football player and track athlete Derek Knott sung a Christmas song he wrote, while playing the guitar.

The Mountain Hawks provide gifts for all the children in the family, along with a gift for the mother and father. Each family receives a gift card to Valley Farm Markets for groceries, a gift certificate for gas and a gift card for Goosey Gander and Campus Pizza.

The families opened one gift on Thursday then saved the rest for Christmas Day.

Bonshak, Buysse and Sharlow were on hand beginning at 3:30, making sure the entire event ran smoothly (not just the athletics component). It all began with weekly meetings and endless preparation, but the hard work is worth it.

"It's great to see the families and the expressions on their faces," said Sharlow. "That really is the most important thing to me."

"I have been extremely fortunate to work with such great student athletes with our Adopt-A-Family event," said Corsi. "The three coordinators (Bonshak, Buysse and Sharlow) dedicated so much time and effort to make this year's Adopt-A-Family one of the best ever. I can't thank them enough, along with our Student-Athlete Council, all the student athletes, Tina Okoye and Caitlin Blake. I would also like to thank all the alumni, alumnae, friends and families who have donated to make this event possible."

The event is something that will stick with these student-athletes well beyond graduation.

"You see a connection with years past," said Sharlow. "Adopt-A-Family leaves a long-lasting effect on you."

Adopt-A-Family is so unique because it involves the entire athletic department. Team community service initiatives are common, but this event has helped bring together Lehigh Athletics teams, and the Bethlehem south side community, for 15 years (and counting).

"I think this just shows how service-oriented our athletics community is," said Buysse. "Every team is willing to participate. We really value community work at this school. I think that's very unique to Lehigh."

"This brings together Lehigh Athletics as a family," said Bonshak. "We truly stick together to one common goal through Adopt-A-Family. We all are putting a smile on somebody's face so it's rewarding all around. It's cool to get everybody together throughout the process. You see different faces and you see different people donating. It's really exciting that everybody's on board."

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