SOS Gets in the Holiday Spirit

Dec. 12, 2011

While October is the busiest month for the Solid Orange Squad, December is sometimes one of the most rewarding. During the month of December, SOS and other student-athletes participate in many holiday events to spread Christmas cheer to some children who are not fortunate enough to receive gifts or spend Christmas with their families.

On Friday, December 2, Cassidy Self, a senior diver, volunteered at the Greenville Rotary Club Christmas Party. This was an event that SOS and EMpower Clemson participated in together. The Greenville Rotary Club is an organization that strives to encourage service in personal, business and community life, and the annual Christmas party is one of many ways that the Rotarians give back to those in the community.

The Christmas party was held at the Greenville Hyatt Regency Hotel, where Rotarians, members of a local Interact club, and SOS and EMpower all came together to help a group of underprivileged children celebrate Christmas. Kathy Cauthen, Director of EMpower Clemson sang Christmas carols to start off the event. Then everyone mingled and ate dinner with the children before it was time for them to receive their Christmas presents.

“It was so awesome to see such a diverse group of people coming together to bring some joy into the lives of these children. I had a great time talking with the kids and hearing how excited they are for Christmas,” commented Cassidy. After dinner and more carols, Santa visited, and each child was able to sit on his lap and receive a present. For some of the kids, these are the only Christmas presents they will receive. Cassidy said, “It was a blessing to be able to do something nice for the kids before the holidays.”

Along with the Rotary Club Christmas Party, SOS also volunteered at the Clemson Community Care Christmas party, hosted at Goldenview Baptist Church. Callie Cavanaugh, Director of SOS, and Emily Tatum, a former women’s soccer player, attended this event on Saturday, December 3. The students helped distribute presents for the Secret Santa gift exchange, and played games and did Christmas arts and crafts with the children. During a time of year when family is so important, SOS strives to give back to members of the community who are not fortunate enough to be with their families.

Aside from the holiday events, last week SOS also spoke to a DAR School tour group and had athletes sell tickets at the South Carolina High School State Football Semifinals. On Friday, track and field student-athletes Cory Thalheimer and Brittney Waller visited Six Mile Elementary School to present 80+ students with their awards for being selected as Good Citizens for the months of November and December.

SOS will take a break while most of the student-athletes complete exams and then go home for the holidays, but will be back in action in January 2012.