STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State’s football team is playing for the Big Ten Championship on Saturday against Oregon, so the players understand how to follow a game plan.
Monday night at a Target store in State College, they used all of their skills to execute a shopping spree to assist the Toys for Tots program in Harrisburg.
“I just thought it was an amazing opportunity,” said Penn State senior wide receiver Julian Fleming. “As a kid, Christmas is super important, just to be able to provide kids that are a little less fortunate than us [is impactful].”
The money for the toys was donated by the West Shore Home executive team. They will be donated to the Toys for Tots program in Harrisburg.
“This is so much fun to watch them,” said Kirsten Page, the director of public relations and community outreach for West Shore Home. “They’re having a good time but they know what the mission is behind this. We talked about all of the kids in need all around Central Pennsylvania and they really took that to heart.”
“I got three little sisters and an older brother, everybody at different ages, everybody getting different stuff,” explained Penn State freshman linebacker DaKaari Nelson. “My parents did a great job of getting us the things that we want so Christmas was never a dull moment. People were thinking we might need help looking for girls' stuff and I was like, 'Nah, I got this.'”
The Nittany Lions spent about two hours at the store shopping for the toys.
They’ll spend the rest of their week concentrating on school and preparing for Oregon in the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis.