The Abington and Neshaminy girls’ basketball teams – thanks to their generosity - ensured that a local family will have a better holiday season. To view photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Dan Marsh was looking for a family that might need a boost this holiday season when he stumbled upon one in a most unexpected setting.
Abington’s varsity girls’ basketball coach, a teacher at the junior high school, was met by one of his seventh grade students, Michael Saunders, before gym class one day late this fall.
“He said he didn’t have his gym clothes, and I’m like, ‘Why not?’” Marsh recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t you watch the news? I was on the news. My house burned down.’”
Saunders was one of eight family members displaced when their apartment on Old York Road was destroyed by fire in late October.
And so the idea was borne for Marsh’s team to collect money and gifts for the Saunders family, who lost not only their apartment but their possessions as well.
“This is our third year, and we had never done this for a family from Abington before,” Marsh said. “It was always someone from Philadelphia. Why not do one from Abington?”
In a span of less than two weeks, Abington and Neshaminy – the Ghosts’ opponent in last Friday’s game – collected food, clothing and toys as well as more than $1,300 in cash and gift cards that was presented to the family after the varsity game.
“I’m still taking it in,” said Dorian Saunders, Michael’s mother. “It’s a surprise, it’s an overwhelming feeling. You see it on TV, but when you’re actually on the other side, it’s an indescribable feeling.
“One of our concerns as far as the children was Christmas. My kids are young. They knew we had a fire, but they don’t understand the impact on our family. We have friends that donated a (Christmas) tree to us. Everyone is helping out”
Saunders recalled the night of the fire that changed her family’s world.
“I actually woke up to the smoke,” she said. “I heard the alarms going off and saw the smoke, so my first thing was to grab my children. We got out.
“You don’t believe it happened. It’s just a nightmare.”
That night, the family was given lodging at the Days Inn in Horsham, and several days later, they were placed in the Red Cross House in Philadelphia where they resided until early December when they moved to their new home in Upper Darby.
“Friends and family donated bedding,” said Saunders. “My husband works at the Corner Bakery in Philadelphia, and they gave us a gift of $2,000 to help us out.
“The Red Cross gave us money to help out. Everybody has been there to support us. My prayers have been answered.”
Lynn Peterson echoed the sentiments of her daughter.
“We lost our things, but we didn’t lose us,” she said. “Everybody – family and friends, people we don’t know, and here we are. We see it on TV, we read it in the papers. Now we’re a family that’s living it.”
The Saunders children continue to attend school at Abington,
“They picked them up at the Red Cross House to make sure they got to school every day and brought them home,” Peterson said. “And they continue to pick them up. It can’t get any better.”
Marsh credited Neshaminy’s players and coaches for their role in the project.
“Neshaminy has been great,” he said. “I called Joe (Lally) up, and I didn’t get him the information about the family until last week sometime, and he said, ‘I’ll do my best,’ and, of course, they pulled through. They have a great bunch of kids too.”
It is the second year the Ghosts have combined forces with Neshaminy and the third year for the holiday project.
“It’s been great,” Marsh said. “I talked to the parents before the season that we want to create an atmosphere that our kids have a quality basketball experience, and we think this really adds to it because it’s more than just basketball.
“It’s simple, cliché stuff, but I know our kids really benefit from this. They really look forward to it, and they go all out. Even though we got started late because the family was displaced, we still come up stellar every year. The kids just love to do it.”
- Log in to post comments
