THE FINAL MOMENT: PUTTING A SMILE ON CHILDREN’S FACES
SSE’s 2025 Holiday Assist program concluded with a heartwarming celebration at the Alma Community Center in San Jose where more than 120 children and their caregivers arrived with an invitation to pick up their holiday gift.
Sharks players Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Reaves, Ty Dellandrea, Vincent Desharnais and Dmitry Orlov, and S.J. Sharkie greeted families and handed out presents one by one so each child had a personal interaction with a professional hockey player. District 7 Council Member Bien Doan also joined for the evening, spreading joy to those at the event. The Sharks Foundation also surprised youth with a free skate pass to Sharks Ice San Jose, and a special-edition Sharks Foundation beanie to keep them warm this winter.
Throughout the evening, families enjoyed pizza and desserts while kids opened their gifts, posed for photos with S.J. Sharkie, and shared moments of joy with the players. When asked about giving back to his community this holiday season, Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais said, “Not everyone is as fortunate, a lot of people have their struggles, I think that we have a pretty big platform that we can use to help people out. I think that the holidays are the best time of the year to give back…this year the message on our team is to give back as much as we can, so it’s really cool to see five guys here trying to bring smiles and joy during the holidays.”
The final activation brought the full Holiday Assist campaign to life, ensuring the generosity of our collective community reached the children and families the program was designed to support.