Athletics’ Sean Doolittle hosted 17 Syrian refugee families for Thanksgiving

During the holiday season, there’s a lot of rhetoric about being kind and helping others. It’s one thing to simply recite those words, it’s another to act on them. Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Doolittle and his girlfriend Eireann Dolan decided on the latter, hosting 17 Syrian refugee families for Thanksgiving dinner.

The idea was inspired by Dolan, who wrote a post on her personal blog detailing why she and Sean felt this was the right decision. The dinner took place Wednesday in Chicago, where Eireann was raised.

It turned out to be a big success. Sean and Eireann hosted 17 Syrian refugee families. Not only that, but Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel showed up for the event.

Dolan later posted the following picture on her Instagram account:

She attached a note with the photo that read:

Chicago is so lucky to have 17 Syrian refugee families now officially calling it home. We thought we’d officially welcome them with one of our greatest American traditions, Thanksgiving. Thank you to Mayor Emanuel and Alderman Burke for joining the party! If you’d like to sponsor a refugee family in Chicago, link is in my bio #refugeeswelcome

It was an incredibly nice gesture by Sean and Eireann. Because of them, a number of families were able to have a celebration they normally would not have experienced.

We’ll try not to be too corny here, but helping others is the true spirit of the holiday season, and it’s great to see people go out of their way in order to do so. Credit to Sean and Eireann for giving back to those in need.

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