The Fresno State football team stopped all Hawai’i Bowl preparations to spread some holiday cheer at Valley Children’s Healthcare on Monday.

“It’s a great experience for the players to get to come visit the children at Valley Children’s [Healthcare], to try to brighten these kids’ day who are battling,” said head coach Jeff Tedford. “We don’t get to do things like this very often so it’s a great opportunity for our players to give back to the community, which is very important to us.”

The players were able to talk with some of the children, sign memorabilia and take pictures.

“They are having a great time visiting with the kids today and it’s great to see them bring smiles to the kids’ faces, and to see the kids’ bring smiles to the players’ faces,” Tedford said.

Valley Children’s Healthcare is a longtime partner of Fresno State. It sponsors the Kid Captain of the Game at each football home game.

“To see the smiles on those kids’ faces before every game was second-to-none. I really enjoyed that part of the game, and that role as a captain,” senior Aaron Mitchell said.

Tedford also presented Todd Suntrapak, President & CEO of Valley Children’s Healthcare with a Fresno State football jersey.  

“There’s no better way to give back to this community than here at Valley Children’s [Healthcare],” Tedford said. “We got to do this during the holiday season of giving, right before our bowl game, which was great for our players.”

The ‘Dogs depart for Hawai’i on Tuesday. They will then take on the University of Houston in the Hawai’i Bowl on Dec. 24 at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.