Christmas Spirit

It was a fantastic weekend of Christmas spirit and selfless service as the Jesuit High School basketball team and the student club Agmen Christi once again this year spread Christmas cheer to a migrant community in East Hillsborough County.

On Friday night (Dec. 18), a migrant family the basketball team had “adopted” visited the Tiger Palace before Jesuit’s game against Strawberry Crest. Team members, as they have for several years, received specific gift requests, and the Jesuit Santa, a.k.a. Sebastian Rivers ’16 (pictured on the homepage), distributed the presents to the children.

Sunday (Dec. 20), members of Agmen Christi, along with school president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J., visited the Sydney Farms migrant community in Dover. Once a month Agmen Christi members tutor the migrant children and play soccer with them, but on this occasion they brought along dozens of Christmas presents for all of the kids.

Rivers reprised his role as Jesuit Santa, handing out dozens of presents with assists from Julie Snyder, P ’16, a migrant advocate who collected specific gift requests from the children, and Jesuit's Director of Community Service, Michael Miller '09.

View two photo slideshows below, from Friday night with the basketball team and from Sunday afternoon with Agmen Christi at Sydney Farms.