NC State Club Swim hosts charity event for UNC Children’s Hospital

On Saturday, January 30, NC State’s club swim team hosted the Inaugural Triangle-Area “Pajamas for the Kids” Invitational.

The meet featured more than 100 swimmers from NC State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Courtney Like-Mathews, the coach of NC State club swim team, had the original idea of starting a charity meet. “Kids most often receive toys from the Toys-For-Tots organization,” Like-Mathews said, “giving pajamas was an alternative donation since we were told that the kids don’t like wearing hospital gowns all day.”

Michael Nyan, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said that this was a great idea and hopes that they will continue the event with a pajama drive for years to come. “Normally we don’t get to do a competition with just these three teams so it’s a cool opportunity, especially when we can help out the community.”

To meet the goal of 200 sets of pajamas to donate, Like-Mathews organized the event to allow the participants to bring two sets of pajamas to donate to the hospital rather than pay a typical meet fee of $20.

Nathan Alberton, a senior at NC State double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Economics, has been swimming for over 16 years and has been a member of the club swim team since his freshman year. When asked about the pajama drive, Alberton said “I think it’s a great thing we’re starting, being able to give back to the community while also having a fun competition between rivals.” This was the last home swim meet Alberton will participate in.

By the end of the day, the three teams had collected 202 sets of pajamas to donate to the hospital and NC State swept the competition with a first place victory.