“My name is Mike Flury. I am one of the assistant captains for my high school Fed hockey team. We all never really think about what we ask for, for Christmas. I think we just take for granted what we have. A family friend had some medical problems, and we later found out he had no insurance to pay for his medicine. I asked my mother about insurance and his medical problems. We, unfortunately, were not able to help him and his family so we decided to try to help someone else, we decided to adopt a family for Christmas. We asked our coach and he thought it was a great idea. My mother knew of a place in Buffalo that helps homeless women and children. We were able to get the name of a family that had things they needed. The family had a mother and three children, 11,8 and 6 years that lived at this shelter. They are from Nigeria. The father was killed in the military there and the mother is working on her GED here and volunteers at a local hospital, hoping that she will be able to get a job there someday. My whole team, 21 players participated in this. We asked our families to also donate to our cause and everyone was very generous. We all went shopping with the help of a few moms. We had a list for each family member and we were shocked to see what was on their lists. We all ask for things like XBOX and cellphones and these people just wanted simple things like shoes, jackets, and clothes. We spent about 2 hours shopping and laughed with our moms at things we were picking out because we had a budget to stick to. We then went back to our cafeteria to wrap all of the gifts. This was more of a challenge than shopping because most of us never wrap gifts! It was a good team bonding experience and it made us feel good to see what we bought for all of them. We were then able to go meet the family and give them their gifts. They were very shy at first but once we all jumped in and told them to dig in and open their gifts it was fun for all of us. The mother cried when she opened her new jacket and hugged all of us. The best part was seeing the kids open their gifts and yell and be excited. We got to hang out and play with them for about an hour, which was great. That made the whole experience worth it. It was a definite eye-opener for all of us to see how they all lived and what they don’t have. It was a sad situation but we felt good knowing we were able to help them and give them a great Christmas! It is all about giving back and being able to help someone. There is always someone that can use your help, you just have to open your eyes to what is around you. “
Sincerely,
Mike Flury
WEST SENECA WEST FED HOCKEY
