Beyond the Byline: Lots of smiles at Christina Wesley’s Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, April 8, my friend Christina Wesley will quietly do what she does best — help others.

Christina will hold her third annual Easter Egg Hunt for kids.

Simple. Effective. So meaningful.

The event will be at Christina’s home, 2 Sunset Lane, Dupont.

Christina is 42 years old and she played in the Challenger Little League for 20 years, before aging out of that and she has played for Victory Sports for the last 13 years.

Christina, who has a learning disability, is an absolute joy to be around, and she has set a wonderful example for her peers.

Christina contacted me the other day to tell me that she will again hold her Easter Egg Hunt — this will be her third event. Christina says she does this for kids she knows.

One look at the attached photo of the kids from the 2022 event and you get why Christina does this — the kids are smiling and they are holding baskets filled with stuff. They had fun at Christina’s Easter Egg Hunt.

Christina gives away prizes and, most important, the event puts those great smiles on the faces of the kids.

Christina’s learning disability has never stopped her from learning, And through her Easter Egg Hunt and other volunteer efforts, Christina also teaches us about what is really important in life.

“When everything was shut down because of the pandemic, I decided on my own to have an Easter Egg Hunt,” Christina told me last year. “I told my mother, and my nephew and my caseworker and they thought it was a great idea also. Then I told my sister, Nicole, and her boyfriend, Eric, that I was having an Easter Egg Hunt. Both were happy that I thought of doing something like that and my brother Patrick was shocked that I came up with such an amazing thing to do for kids.”

Her first Easter Egg Hunt had seven kids attend. Last year, nine kids were there.

“I just love seeing kids smile,” Christina said — with a smile of her own.

Christina and her peers in Victory Sports have one major ability and that is to appreciate what they can do to bring smiles to the faces of children and, I might add, adults too.

Christina told me she also does “lost of stuff” for her church. She said she is a student-aide teacher for fourth and fifth grade CCD classes.

“I love it and every first Friday I give 11 people who can’t go to church communion,” she said.

Christina’s event is a perfect example of showcasing the abilities of people with disabilities.

I know this firsthand. In our house, we had three members of our family and four good legs — I had two of them — and I was the least productive one of the three of us. No lie.

The point here is that I’ve always had a sincere appreciation of the abilities of people with disabilities.

This appreciation has carried me through life, making it very easy to get involved with organizations like Challenger Little League and Victory Sports — the latter a group that offers athletic and social programs for adults with mental and/or physical challenges.

Both Challenger and Victory have provided many participants the opportunity to grow and develop their athletic and social skills, thereby significantly improving their overall quality of life.

And Christina makes her parents, Judy and Harold Wesley, very proud. They should take great comfort in seeing how Christina has developed into such a caring and compassionate adult.

And Christina and her peers have for their entire lives, performed these acts of kindness with each other and in the community.

In August of 2010, Victory Sports was organized and had 40-plus participants — all adults who wanted to continue to play baseball after they aged out of Challenger at age 19, leaving them with no place to play. Victory now has more than 100 participants.

They play basketball in the winter, we sponsor dances at Halloween, Christmas, a “Prom Night,” and Valentine’s Day and we hold summer events. Bike riding was added this year. They also hold movie nights, yoga and take field trips to baseball games, picnics and more.

Volunteers, parents and caregivers see the value Victory brings to the participants. They see them interact, become more social and they smile an awful lot.

Like Christina Wesley.

Enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities is what Victory Sports is all about.

And that is multiplied a thousand times when participants like Christina do things like hold an Easter Egg Hunt on April 8, “for kids she knows.”

Bring on those smiles.