UDallas Athletics Provides Donations for Blue Christmas
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas Athletics Department partnered with the Irving Police Department and Fire Department this year with Blue Christmas. The department-wide support became possible with the help of first-year baseball head coach Erik Grafton coordinating the details to have the donations received and picked up on Thursday, December 6.
Dallas delivered strong support from multiple sports the past week. The men’s and women’s basketball teams brought in some donations from their home events this past weekend. Most of the student-athletes available arrived to represent their respective programs out the front of the school for photos and to deliver food and toys for the organization.
Dallas currently fields 15 intercollegiate sports for men and women on the non-athletic scholarship Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Crusaders participate in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).
Blue Christmas was started in 1979 out of the then City Municipal Court building at 835 W. Irving Blvd. It started with 25 families and it has now grown to where we attempt to take care of 400+ families that live in Irving. We originally were under the umbrella of the Irving Police Association charitable account, and then we moved to the Irving Fire Fighters Association. When Texas Stadium was blown up, Swanson gave the City of Irving a donation to be distributed among programs that helped kids in the city. Blue Christmas was awarded $5000 which was the beginning of becoming a 501 c 3 tax exempt program under our own umbrella.
To learn more about the Irving Police & Fire Blue Christmas, please click here to visit their official website.