Men's Basketball Helps Spread Christmas Cheer
12/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY – With Christmas just a few days away, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team did their part to make sure less-fortunate families on Buffalo's East Side will have a reason to smile this holiday season.
The team volunteered with St. Luke's Mission of Mercy to help distribute gifts to needy families in the area.
"It's very eye opening to see what is going on basically right down the street from us," sophomore Tony Watson II said. "This is where a lot of our fans and support comes from, so it's good for us to know how they are living and what their lifestyles are. "
Half the team helped distribute gifts to families at St. Luke's while the other half loaded gifts onto a truck that delivered them to the Bob Lanier Center. The center was recently robbed of 400 toys valued at roughly $3,500. With the help of the men's basketball team, St. Luke's was able to replenish the center and save Christmas for families that otherwise wouldn't have gifts.
"It opens our eyes to how blessed we are and how we can lose sight of that sometimes," Watson said. "It shows us people that don't have what we have that we thought came so easily. When we see people who are living a complete opposite lifestyle, it really makes us feel blessed."
St. Luke's Mission Of Mercy is a Roman Catholic Mission in the inner city of Buffalo. This community, consisting of Amy Betros and Norm Paolini, Co-Founders and Co-Directors, and 15 full-time lay missionaries, strive to live the Gospel message of God's great love and mercy for all His children through service to His poor and broken. This service is carried out through living the Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy. The community strives to proclaim, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the goodness and greatness of God and His great love and mercy for all people in everything they think, say and do.
St. Luke's Mission of Mercy does not receive money from the government or the diocese. Trusting in God's Divine Providence, the ministry depends on donations, both big and small, of many individuals who give generously from what God has blessed them with so that others may live. God, in His goodness, continues to bless the work of the Mission by inspiring those who have to share with those who do not.
For more information about St. Luke's Mission of Mercy please click here to visit their website.
