PROVO, Utah — BYU baseball and the Mac’s Gift Children’s Cancer Foundation partnered for a Christmas celebration with families experiencing childhood cancer on Wednesday night at the Nu Skin Building.
“Our guys love coming and having a chance to give back to these kids and their families,” said BYU head baseball coach Trent Pratt. “We look forward to helping with Mac’s Gift any time we can.”
The foundation, established by the late Mac Boyter, gathers monetary donations and toys for an annual Christmas party involving Utah County families whose children are battling cancer. Its volunteers and donors strive to aid the child facing cancer as well as the parents and siblings likewise impacted by the ordeal.
Mac’s Gift’s 2024 Christmas celebration served 40 local families on Wednesday with the help of the BYU baseball team.
“The BYU baseball team has been an incredible blessing and benefit to our event,” said foundation head Mac Boyter Jr. “The baseball players get down on their knees, look these kids in the eye, spend time with and talk with them. These kids can come here and forget about cancer as they have fun with these players who see them for who they really are.”
BYU coaches and athletes’ relationship with Mac’s Gift began when then men’s basketball assistant coach Dave Rose and his wife Cheryl first involved the men’s basketball team in 1997. Rose and his players continued to celebrate Christmas with Mac’s Gift through the final season of his BYU career in December 2018. BYU baseball has since continued the tradition of service.
Visit their website for more information on Mac’s Gift Children’s Cancer Foundation.