On the Saturday before Christmas, hundreds of student-athletes and other volunteers were lined up in the Park City High School cafeteria packing up holiday meal fixings for delivery to families in the Wasatch Back and beyond.
Like elves making toys in a North Pole workshop, an assembly line of athletes loaded whole chickens, pinto beans, rice, tortillas, frozen corn and a fresh pie into paper bags. Within 30 minutes, the food was packed and ready to go out to more than 800 families — but by car, not by sleigh.
“Most people take routes, and they have about four or five families that they drop off the meals to,” Especially 4 Athletes club President Marcella Woolley said. “It's really special because then they get a go and wish them a Merry Christmas and give them the meal.”
That’s Especially 4 Athletes club President Marcella Woolley. The club, the Agnew family and the Christian Center of Park City all work together to make this project possible.
Woolley said the student-athletes help fund much of the project by raising money at their games. The club helps facilitate fundraising.
“We really just discuss and focus on, how can we just seek out those who need our love and support as student-athletes, and how can we take lessons we learn on the field and put them off the field and vice versa,” she said.
Over $23,000 was raised this year, with many last-minute donations. Since all the food must be preordered, she said the extra money will be used to stock the Christian Center’s freezers.
This is the eighth year the project has been put on, but the first year started with just one family: the Agnews.
Ben Agnew said it started after his family delivered a Thanksgiving meal to another family through a local organization. It was such a great experience, they decided to do something similar at Christmas.
“That same year, we just took our neighbors, the Olsens, and then a couple of our family friends, some of my sister's friends, some of my friends, some of my brother's friends, and we went and did, I think it was 15 meals,” he said. “So we just went to the store ourselves, and we just kind of bought a few items, put them in a bag, and then we went to 15 families and delivered them. And it's just grown every year since then.”
Once Ben Agnew got to high school, he involved the Especially 4 Athletes club. Athletics Director Jamie Sheetz, who advises the club, helped get things started, eventually partnering with the Christian Center as well.
While Agnew is no longer in high school, he and his family remain involved, helping pack meals, order the food and spread holiday cheer.
"It just goes to show that if you want to help out, you can start with one, and then the community here in Park City is amazing, and they've just rallied around it,” Agnew said. “Now I think it's just like a tradition.”
Agnew said the tradition will continue for years to come.
