MECHANICSBURG, Pa. - On Saturday morning, Dec. 18, a number of Penn State Harrisburg men's basketball players and coaches joined volunteers from the community to treat local children to a holiday shopping spree at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. 

"As a basketball program, we wanted to make an impact within our Middletown community this holiday season and today was one of the biggest successes our program has achieved to date," said Penn State Harrisburg men's basketball head coach Don Friday. "The children were the victors today and seeing their excitement and joy as they filled their carts was incredibly uplifting to myself, our players, and our staff. We had a tremendous collaboration with Detective Adam Tankersley of Middletown Police, Ollie's Bargain Outlets, and Central Pennsylvania Enterprise Rental Car Inc." 

Friday joined assistant coach Jeff Frank, Penn State Harrisburg players Brandon Coleman and Kobe Petrovich, and Tankersley in accompanying 17 elementary and middle school children from Middletown and Steelton-Highspire during their shopping sprees. Each child was gifted $125 to spend. Friday expressed his appreciation for those who helped make the event possible. 

"Head basketball coaches Tristan Crawford of Steel-High and Chris Bradford of Middletown helped organize and transport children from their school districts to this event," said Friday. "Their commitment to their school and the betterment of youth runs much deeper than the excellence they achieve on the basketball court." 

Donations for the shopping spree were made possible through the efforts of Vice President of Store Operations Scott Osborne and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Swygert of Ollie's, CEO of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Central PA Greg Cavoli, and the Tyler King family.  

"Ollie's Bargain Outlet was excited to partner with Penn State Harrisburg and Coach Friday to host the event," said Osborne. "All of our charity campaigns are focused on giving back to children in need. There is no better opportunity than at Christmas when the kids deserve to have some gifts for themselves. We could not have been more pleased to see their smiling faces as they filled their shopping carts up this morning."  

The get-together provided the children an opportunity to forget about the worries of the world and "be kids" at Christmastime as Friday put it. Thanks to the efforts of multiple local businesses, organizations, volunteers, and community members, that goal was achieved on Saturday. 

"At Enterprise, one of our founding values is 'We strengthen our communities one neighborhood at a time,'" said Enterprise Holdings Team Leader and Penn State Harrisburg assistant coach Anthony Morgan. "Our local Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team echoes this and it starts with our leadership, spearheaded by co-chairpersons Marcos Espinal and Kaye-Ann Brown-Barrett who have been in constant communication about making an impact during the holiday season. When we received word about this event, we were eager to assist with the efforts. Credit to Penn State Harrisburg men's basketball and the Middletown Police Department for doing the leg work. Our fearless leader Greg Cavoli has been very intentional in the DE&I space and the autonomy he gives our team allows amazing things like this to happen." 

Friday was impressed that the children deflected from shopping for gifts solely for themselves and instead thought more about gathering goodies for their brothers and sisters, parents, and grandparents. He, along with Tankersley, reiterated the idea that Saturday's event was a way to spread hope among families in the local community this holiday season.  

"This event left me speechless," said Tankersley. "Seeing these kids pick out gifts for their moms, dads, brothers, and sisters was so humbling. I was excited to be with Coach Friday, Coach Frank, Coach Bradford, Coach Crawford, and their players and team up with Ollie's and Enterprise and bring Christmas to those who truly need and deserve it. I'm truly blessed to have been a part of this event." 

Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using the handle @pshbgathletics.