Twelve-year-old Shakeal Bryant has a new favorite Tampa Bay Lightning player.
Shakeal joined his sister, Shiakyla, and brother, Jayceon Gadson, on Tuesday afternoon for a holiday shopping event put on by the Lightning and local charitable organization Metropolitan Ministries.
Tuesday marked the second occurrence of the event, which sees Metropolitan Ministries and the Lightning give 25 local children a $300 shopping spree to purchase Christmas gifts, including clothes, toys and more.
After Bryant strolled his way through the toys aisle and decided on a new gaming console with the help of his new friend in Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli, the 12-year-old boy said it felt like he was dreaming.
The Cirelli and Bryant duo settled on a Christmas haul that included a new Xbox console, football video games, Roblox gift cards and a Nerf gun for the young Lightning fan. Bryant also used his money to purchase a gift for his older sister.
Bryant is a big fan of sports, particularly football, but he also enjoys hockey. Bryant even told Cirelli on Tuesday that the center was his new favorite player.
“You could just tell his love for sports and what a great kid he was, too,” Cirelli said, “because the first thing he said is he's got to keep his grades up. So he's working hard in school and he's working hard on the field. So it was awesome to spend time with him.”
This year’s shopping spree took aim at assisting families who were affected by the recent strong hurricane season. Nearly the entire Lightning roster was in attendance and paired up with a child on Tuesday, as did other team staff members and alumni. Children ranged in age from two months to a 17-year-old.
Bryant’s mother, Charisse Gadson, said her children are sports fanatics. When their school called the Gadson home to ask if they had interest in participating in this year’s shopping spree, Gadson had a moment of disbelief.
"I was like, well that's a blessing,” Gadson said of the offer. “I really appreciate it because I mean, around this time, especially when you have multiple kids, help is needed. And I really appreciate what they did.”
Bryant and Cirelli started Tuesday with a one-on-one competition in MarioKart, a cartoon racing game that saw Cirelli narrowly escape with the win.
From there the duo talked further about video games and what Bryant does for fun. When Bryant said his older brother had a gaming console but didn’t always like sharing, a new target was acquired, leading to the Xbox purchase.
As one of the final groups still in the store, Bryant made sure to tell Cirelli he was thankful. While the forward stood near the checkout line, Bryant and his sister began asking Cirelli questions about the fresh stitches on his nose from a recent high-flying puck before the sixth-grader told media yet again that Cirelli is now his favorite player.
Those comments didn’t go unnoticed.
"It's awesome when kids are saying stuff like that. You just want to help them out, and like I said, just to see a smile on their face,” Cirelli said. “So to come here and spend a couple hours shopping with them and seeing them pick out stuff, comments like that where he thinks he's dreaming is pretty cool for us and just thankful we can give back.”
The donated spending limit is $300 per kid, but Cirelli has exceeded that total when choosing gifts for the children in each of the event’s two years, helping to pay the extra balance.
"You want to help people, and it's just the joy you get in seeing a kid smile and how happy he is. And so for me, it doesn't matter what they want. I kind of want to fulfill their day or their dream or their Christmas present, whatever it may be. And just seeing how happy they are, that’s the reason I do it. I'm glad he had fun today and he had a great time, hopefully, and he's got a couple of new toys to go home with.”
That joy Cirelli spoke of? It was felt on Tuesday by Bryant and his family—after Cirelli checked off every item on Bryant’s Christmas list, the boy’s mother said a No. 71 Lightning jersey with Cirelli’s name on the back is likely the only gift remaining on her son’s wishlist.
"It's very exciting because everybody has their different ideas about sports players or whatever, but they're very genuine,” Gadson said of seeing NHL players spend time with her children. “They came in with a nice attitude and were ready to help out. So I'm good. My kids are happy.”
