Members of the Gainesville Christian Community School (GCCS) middle school boys basketball team traded their jerseys for aprons on Wednesday night, serving hot meals to families at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida (RMHCNCF). 

A total of 10 team members – eight players and two coaches – took part in the initiative, which was made possible through the Visiting Chef program at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). 

According to the RMHCNCF website, the program allows volunteers to either prepare a home-cooked meal or cater in from a restaurant for the organization’s families.  

“Essentially, we try to get a visiting chef [to] come every night and cook dinner for the families,” Chloe Hebblethwaite, guest services associate at the RMHCNCF, said in an interview with Mainstreet, adding this is usually different organizations, churches and high school clubs. “They’ll just prepare a meal for the families so that they don’t have to worry about buying their own food while they’re staying with us.” 

Hebblethwaite said the RMHCNCF houses families who have people under the age of 21 who are receiving treatment at UF Health Shands Hospital. 

“We have some long-term families and short-term families,” she said. “None of them, I would say, consider themselves as living here permanently. It just depends on how long their kid requires treatment.” 

Donald Taylor, who serves as the head coach of the GCCS middle school boys basketball and athletic director at the school, said they’ve had it planned to serve a meal to the families at RMHCNCF for roughly a month and got approval just before the holidays. He said the team arrived at the RMHCNCF around 4 p.m. to begin preparing the meal, which consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, salad and brownies. 

“When you come here, you bring whatever you’re going to bring,” he said. “You can pre-prepare it. You don’t have to cook it here, but that’s part of the experience. For the boys, I really wanted them to get hands-on [experience] and actually do some of the preparation.” 

Taylor said they had some help behind the scenes, with some parents buying and bringing the ingredients for the team to cook. Additionally, he said a teacher helped prepare the brownies ahead of time. 

In addition to making the food, the players also had the opportunity to serve the residents.  

“You don’t have to serve, but you know, again, I want them to serve so they can be face-to-face with people,” Taylor said.  

Eighth graders Jayden Jackson and Edwyn Nunez were among the GCCS players who had the opportunity to take part in Wednesday’s initiative. 

“It’s nice to give back to the community and come down here and help [those] that really need help,” Jackson said.  

Nunez also touched on the opportunity to serve others. 

“I like the idea of coming out here and actually getting to work for a good cause,” he said. “I may value education and things of the matter, but when it comes down to it, I think that everybody is a human. And if anybody needs help, then it’s only fair to help them, because they would do the same as well.” 

Taylor said this won’t be the last time the team takes part in initiatives like this. 

“Toward the end of the season, we’re going to try to jump into something else,” he said. “I want them to feel responsibility. I want them to feel the gratification of being able to do something like this, too. That’s just uplifting to them as young men. It’s going to turn them into better versions of themselves.”  

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.