On Dec. 2-3, the Indiana Wesleyan University cross country and track and field teams set up a booth in the student center to raise money for their annual Joy at Christmas project.
The teams sold handmade cards, ornaments and desserts at the booth to help raise donations for their project.
Cross country coach Brody Beiler said Joy at Christmas originated in 2016 from the work of former student athlete Caleb Joy.
“He started raising money, his own personal money, money from friends, families, people local in the community, and partnered with social workers that worked with local school districts and saw that there was a need to support underprivileged families who couldn’t really have a Christmas,” Beiler said.
Beiler said Joy worked with social workers to gather Christmas lists from high school, middle school and elementary students.
“Caleb Joy then would purchase those gifts, hand them back to the social worker, and then the social worker would give them to the school, and (the school would) then give them to the families so that Christmas morning, those kids in a local K-12 high school, middle school, elementary school would have Christmas on Christmas morning,” Beiler said.
Beiler said that the next year, the head cross country coach John Foss wanted to multiply Joy’s efforts by having other athletes participate in his work. Beiler said this year about 117 athletes are participating in Joy at Christmas.
“Every year we’ve raised roughly $5,000 supporting anywhere from 50 to 100 kids in the local community,” Beiler said.
Belier said the team’s social media accounts are the biggest means of obtaining donations.
“We just post weekly updates with our infographic of Joy at Christmas, and then we’ll post weekly or biweekly videos or reminders for families, friends, local people in the community to donate to that link.”
Men’s cross country team representative Hunter Wasnich said preparations for social media and their fundraising goal this year began in October.
“We’ve definitely upped our social media presence,” Wasnich said. “I think we kind of get out more videos, more social media graphics, and then I think we repost everything so much more.”
Wasnich said he made the Association of Student Athletes aware of the project so all the teams would repost the graphic.
“It’s going to go out to so many more teams, so a lot more families will see it. And hopefully that will fundraise more money,” he said.
Beiler said that Joy at Christmas has impacted team culture and can help reframe student hearts.
“I think when you’re maybe zero to 17, you can be more in that mindset of receiving,” he said. “You know, maybe you don’t have a job, or haven’t been working, or can’t really give as much of your time away, but now that they’re stepping more into that adulthood, there’s more of a responsibility. And I think it’s a cool opportunity for them to start giving their life away by serving. So, I think I’ve seen the biggest growth in just our underclassmen, which has been really sweet.”
Lily Shirley, a freshman on the women’s track and field team, said the project has helped her feel more connected.
“I think just like giving back to the kids and the community around me has helped me feel more connected to not only my team, but (also) just to Grant County and knowing that we can make an impact on them,” she said.
Wasnich said Joy at Christmas has impacted him by helping him grow closer to God. He said it has also helped him want to give back to the communities he is part of.
“I mean, I didn’t do a ton back in my home community,” he said, “So I think this is a good step in the right direction – doing something for the Marion community. I hope that in my future that I can just do way more for the community that I grew up in and live in.”
