The Abington girls basketball team's Christmas project made the holidays a little brighter for one deserving family. To view photos of Thursday's event, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
Shante is an excellent student who has a passion for art. The 14-year-old enjoys sports and has trophies to show for her accomplishments in basketball, softball and cheerleading. She is, in many ways, your typical eighth grader, but last Thursday night, she felt anything but ordinary.
“I felt famous,” Shante said. “I felt special. My heart was beating real fast. I was so happy.”
Shante’s excitement was well founded. Last Thursday night, Shante, her five siblings as well as her mother and father were honored between the Abington boys/girls basketball doubleheader. They were on the receiving end of gifts that most assuredly will turn what promised to be a difficult Christmas into a memorable one.
“I was talking to my counselor, and she said, ‘Shante, good things are coming your way,’” Shante said. “This is really amazing. I was happy that I was invited to a basketball game and I would get presents. I wasn’t expecting all of this. This is outrageous.”
Shante wasn’t the only one who was amazed by the evening’s events.
“This is my Miracle on 34th Street,” said Charles, Shante’s father. “I thought it was going to be a real rough Christmas.
“I was going to do something, but it wasn’t going to be much. I was going to try to divide $200 between them and give them some coupons from Best Buy – 15-20 percent off coupons. We don’t have anything under the tree right now.”
Things changed in a hurry on Thursday night. Charles and his family left Abington with not only plenty of gifts to put under the tree for all the children but also cash and gift cards totaling over a thousand dollars.
“I feel so much better as a father because I get to see them really smile at Christmas instead of just loving me because I’m their father,” Charles said. “I didn’t think high school students were so unselfish. I didn’t imagine anything like this.”
The project was initiated by the Abington girls basketball team but also included the efforts of the boys’ team as well as Neshaminy’s boys and girls squads.
“We did this last year, and it had such a profound impact on myself and the players,” coach Dan Marsh said. “I wanted to make sure we shared it with our future players and with Neshaminy.
“This is what the holidays are all about. We’re going to keep doing this every year.”
Senior captain Kayla Nolan helped organize things for the girls’ squad.
“We obviously have more advantages than a lot of families,” she said. “We did it last year, and when Marsh asked if we wanted to do it again, we said, ‘Yes’ right away, not even knowing the family. Our boys’ team said yes, Neshaminy said yes. Everyone was right on board and really excited.”
There were some unknown variables, such as the sizes of the two 15-year-old boys.
“We had no idea about anything except their grade,” Nolan said. “It was hard to think about what to get, but it actually worked out in the end. Everybody came up with pretty good ideas.
“Last year they only had two kids, and they were younger, but this year there were more kids, so we split it up. Each grade did a different child. We collected everything on Thursday before the game.”
Marsh, who previously taught in Philadelphia, used his contacts at Hartrandt Elementary School in Philadelphia to find a deserving family, and Shante’s family was chosen.
Charles admits Marsh’s phone call was more than a little unexpected.
“At first I thought somebody was playing a joke on me,” he said. “I never had anybody give me anything in my whole life, so I was apprehensive.
“I never had a phone call saying, ‘Your daughter Shante has been selected to receive gifts.’ I’d like to apologize to the coach because I hung up on him.”
Marsh was persistent and called back, but Charles ignored the call.
“He texted me and said Hartrandt School, so I called him back and apologized,” Charles said.
Charles turned things over to his wife Alexis, and arrangements were made for the entire family to attend Thursday night’s game against Neshaminy.
What was the family expecting?
“Enjoy the game, just a few gifts for the kids and little snacks,” Alexis said. “That’s it.”
“Maybe six or seven boxes with a teddy bear and box of candy,” Charles said. “Something like that. I didn’t think we were going to get gifts like this. This is the best Christmas I have ever seen. This is the best.”
While the six children couldn’t wait to make the trip to Abington, Charles acknowledged he initially had some misgivings.
“At first, I was kind of embarrassed before coming here, but seeing the love and the time they took to pack all of this stuff – that just went out the window,” he said. “It made me feel so good.
“You see a lot of care and love in this. To see my kids when they saw this – their faces lit up, and that made me feel even better. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Never.
“It would have been a rough Christmas. It would have been a Christmas like Charlie Brown – a Christmas tree with one ornament on it. For the past three years, they have been understanding. I thought this was going to be the roughest one because I was going to divide $200 between the six of them. They would have gone in the store and been able to spend the cash. That was the only thing I could think of to make it work out. It would have been a Christmas, but it wouldn’t have been like this. Just to have something under the tree – I feel so much better.”
“I am so overwhelmed,” Alexis said. “I went to the Salvation Army to try and get toys and stuff for the kids. I was late so they didn’t have anything. I have a tree with nothing under it, and the kids keep saying, ‘Mom, we don’t have no gifts,’ and I said, ‘I don’t have any money right now,’ and look what happened.
“This is beautiful for them. Knowing the situation and this happened – it’s a blessing. I’m grateful, that’s all I can say. God is good.”
For Shante and her siblings, it was a day they will never forget.
“I made my own calendar, and I’m going to put a big star with a heart on this date,” Shante said. “When I was in the car driving here, I was thinking about how I would like to give everybody who did something for me a lot of money and make them happy, so they could do what they want with it. I just want to thank everybody. I hope good stuff happens to everybody.”
The night was significant for those who gave as well as those who received.
“Obviously basketball is important, but we want our girls to have a quality basketball experience,” Marsh said. “It’s not only about winning. We want them to learn about life and learn about other things, and I think this is a great tool, especially during the holiday season when they can make somebody else feel good.”
“This feels awesome,” Nolan said. “I love helping other people, and I know the rest of my team does as well. We were really happy to do it, just to make somebody else happy, especially around Christmas.”
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