Basketball Partners with Salvation Army in Preparation for Holiday Season

After their morning practice, the Florida State College at Jacksonville men's basketball team jumped in their cars and headed to downtown Jacksonville to volunteer at the Salvation Army of Northeast Florida.

At the shelter, a group of players helped to clean and clear out a storage area, while the majority of the group focused on the Salvation Army's holiday season initiative. Members of the team worked on assisting to stuff hundreds of Christmas stockings. The stockings were labeled and categorized by "boys" and "girls" for when the Salvation Army eventually spreads the holiday cheer and delivers them to needy children in and around Jacksonville area. 

"I didn't realize how much prep goes into the work the Salvation Army does here in Florida and other areas," says freshman Eddie Mitchell. "It's October, we're over two months away from Christmas, and we're stuffing hundreds of stockings. It's pretty cool."

The team also put together bags and packages with instructions for businesses to help this holiday season. The bags, packages and stockings will then be sent off to participating and partnering organizations for them to fill with toys and items they're contributing to the effort. When Christmas nears, the Salvation Army organizes the delivery of gifts around Jacksonville. The men's basketball team is looking forward to assisting with the delivery process during the college's winter break. 

"I've lived in Jacksonville my whole life, so it feels good to be able to give just a little of our time away from basketball and our own personal lives to help make a difference here," says sophomore Roderick Gardner. "We're learning that little things make a huge impact." 

The Salvation Army was grateful for the FSCJ men's basketball teams help and cooked a meal for the players to enjoy after their afternoon of work. The team was happy to help and refused the meal at first. Naturally though, the young men couldn't resist for long and were fed before heading home.