Swim team raises more than $2,000 to give local family a brighter Christmas

Thanks to the New Philadelphia High School swim team, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tuscarawas County and many generous donors, a large local family will see a good Christmas this year when things might have been lean.

The sixth annual New Philadelphia alumni charity swim meet was held Nov. 29 to raise funds to buy gifts for a local family of six, with more than $2,000 now available to help with the effort.

“We partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters,” said Wilma Mullet, new head coach for the Quaker High School swimmers. “They help us to identify the family we get to shop for for Christmas with our team. We host a swim meet to help raise money but it’s kind of also a trial run for our kids so they know what the format is like, especially with a lot of our new swimmers this year.

“It’s also a fun time for us because we invite alumni swim team members to come back and kind of relive their glory days of being in the water, which is always pretty entertaining to see. These are people who maybe have swum maybe the last time five years ago, and they can still bust a freestyle. It makes it a lot of fun for everyone.”

Money is raised through donations, raffled baskets assembled by the students and other sources.

“This year has been quite a year of generosity,” Mullet said. “The Quaker Club matched our donations up to $1,000, which we exceeded. We also had a local business who asked to remain anonymous who donated quite a bit to our shopping trip. With the raffles and entry fees and other donations made that night, we raised $2,326.”

The charity swim meet originated when Mullet and her brother, former New Philadelphia swim coach Nathan Levengood, informally raised money to shop for gifts for local families needing a little help. Levengood formalized the idea six years ago by bringing current swimmers and alumni together for a fundraiser, which has become an annual tradition.

It also serves as a dress rehearsal for the team.

“It helps the swimmers get familiar with what a meet is like, and it helps us in the background with running the timing and starter systems and all that,” Mullet said.

This year’s team is small, with four girls and five boys, joined at the charity meet by 12 returning alumni.

“I’ll tell you what, it’s a small team, but they have such generous hearts, reaching out to family and the community,” Mullet said. “They’ve definitely put in a lot of work. Big Brothers Big Sisters plays an important role in helping to identify the family we help. They supply names and ages so we have some guidance.”

The swimmers will shop for the family’s younger members, while the coaches will choose gifts for the adults.

“The drop-off for the gifts will be Monday, Dec. 22,” Mullet said, which coincides with the team’s Christmas brunch the same day.

The family has modest expectations.

“The mom didn’t ask for much,” she said. “She just said she wanted her kids to have a wonderful Christmas this year. Sometimes we have a couple of families but this year just one large family of six.”

The annual charity swim meet is held every November, the Saturday following Thanksgiving.