Winston Salem Times

Christmas insecurity in Winston-Salem has been exacerbated by COVID-19, but the pandemic isn’t stopping student-athletes from volunteering at the annual Santa’s Helper event where 1,000 children receive wrapped Christmas gifts, according to a director with Wake Forest University athletics.

“Because of COVID, we're not allowed to do the traditional wrapping and delivering like we normally would,” Ashley Wechter, assistant director of Wake Forest University's student-athlete development, said. “But even though we can’t dress up this Christmas, we're pivoting and working with an organization that has a similar mission.”

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports 346,506 coronavirus cases and more than 5,000 fatalities statewide as of Nov. 25. In Forsyth County, site of Winston-Salem, there have been more than 12,000 coronavirus cases and 163 deaths.

Student athletes dress up to deliver gifts

Prior to the emergence of the pandemic, student-athletes from Wake Forest were heavily involved in dressing up like Santa Claus and his elves while delivering Christmas gifts to families who can’t afford the gift-giving holiday.

“The names come from the local school system where families have identified themselves in advance as being unable to afford Christmas for their children,” Wechter told the Winston-Salem Times. “So we deliver gifts to identified families and not random families.”

The two-day event was started in 1986 by a football player named Chip Reeves. 

“Chip had this idea that he wanted to be able to wrap gifts and deliver them directly to identified families by dressing up as Santa Claus and bringing joy to the kids,” Wechter said. “This tradition has continued on except that now the entire athletic department participates, including coaches, staff and administrators. We wrap gifts and bag them into 12 different zones.”

There are 420 student-athletes from 18 different sports who work different shifts throughout the day that starts at noon and ends at 9 p.m. But the fun doesn’t stop there.

“Saturday morning, starting at 6 a.m., we have 12 different sleds in the form of big trucks lined up in a parking lot with cones,” Wechter said. “Then the little elves come out, which are the student-athletes and staff.”

Each child receives three gifts and a book because the Wake Forest University athletic department, Wechter said, is committed to teaching literacy.

“Wake Forest University is a predominantly white and wealthy institution," she said. "Having it in the middle of a city where there is a lot of disparity, we have a unique way of getting involved with our community because we want to open up the door to allow the community to join our games and be a part of athletics, which could be a child's path to get an education at Wake Forest in the future.”