Thanksgiving and Christmas are a time when people are focused on giving and serving. It’s one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.
It’s also something I’m trying to emphasize in my own home — making Christmas more about how we make others feel rather than what we receive.
My 4-year-old is having a hard time grasping this, unsurprisingly.
In my family, we teach that Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of all — and that’s why we give gifts to others. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I’m touched by how the church emphasizes this. And it doesn’t just ask its members to serve or donate — it lives that principle, too.
In 2024, the Church of Jesus Christ donated “$1.45 billion in humanitarian aid, welfare and other relief,” Deseret News reporter Tad Walch wrote in March. That spirit of providing aid and relief has continued this year.
Just this last week, we saw another example of how the church, and Brigham Young University, which it sponsors, is making a difference in people’s lives. The church sent a truckload of 27,000 pounds of food to the Bearcats Pantry at the University of Cincinnati.
The effort was coordinated by the church and BYU’s alumni chapter in Cincinnati — and it was the largest donation since the pantry was created in 2016. The truck arrived on Friday ahead of the BYU-Cincinnati football game on Saturday, with BYU alumni and fans arriving to help unload and stock the pantry shelves.
The pantry provides aid to students, faculty and staff who experience food insecurity — real people with real needs.
BYU’s Cougs Care program partners with local alumni chapters and puts on a service project to benefit the community where the BYU football team is playing for every road game. In Cincinnati, winter coats were collected during BYU’s pregame alumni tailgate, partnering with the NAACP to donate the coats to local elementary school students. So many coats were donated and even purchased through an Amazon wish list that BYU’s alumni chapter president Jim Wilson said his “garage is now full of coats,” Deseret News’ Jackson Payne reported.
That’s a lot of service. It’s not a PR stunt either. It’s real people coming together with a real desire to help make the world a better place.
So when I heard that a section of Cincinnati fans had started a derogatory chant at the game, it surprised me because the contrast was … striking.
This wasn’t the first time derogatory chants have been directed at BYU and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. USC, Oregon, Providence, Colorado and Arizona have all issued apologies for instances when the chant happened at their schools, with Colorado being fined $50,000 by the Big 12 for it.
Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham issued an apology Monday morning, saying, “The use of offensive or religiously derogatory language by a group of fans during Saturday’s game was unacceptable and does not reflect our values.”
Before the chants started in Cincinnati, BYU fans showed up to serve. And despite the derision they’ve been hearing from some opposing fans, they’ll likely keep showing up.
I’ve been a part of the BYU community since birth, essentially. My parents met at BYU; I have attended BYU football home games for as long as I can remember. I then walked the BYU campus as a student.
I’ve always felt like BYU’s mission to “enter to learn, go forth to serve” was the greatest university mission out there. And if you’ve been to a BYU football away game, you’ve most likely witnessed that going-forth-type of service firsthand with the Cougs Care service projects.
“One of the things that I love about BYU is that for every road football game, we have a tailgate party,” BYU President C. Shane Reese said. “There are awesome Cougar fans all over the country who are ready for a great football game, but they’re also at the tailgate doing something important for their community — they’re doing something to benefit the world. A BYU tailgate is a party with a purpose. I love our unique mission at BYU, and I love our alumni who are out sharing their light with the world.”
Making people and places better. That’s something I’ve always felt BYU and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are commissioned to do.
As I sat at my kitchen table reading the news about the chants and the record donations that took place in Cincinnati, I realized that fines or not, apologies or not, BYU and the church are going to keep giving — and so am I.
Service is meaningful no matter the scale. One donated jacket or one box of food from anyone is worth celebrating.