December 26, 2024
Jason Kelce/YouTube
Jordan Mailata leads a holiday sing-along at the Alliance for Progress Charter School. He and his current and former Eagles teammates Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce helped deliver Christmas presents to every kid in Philadelphia public schools as part of the Philly Specials' Operation Snowball initiative.
With their third holiday album, the Philly Specials set out to fund gifts for every child in the Philadelphia public school system. The Eagles players-turned-carolers hit that goal in time for Christmas and are now sharing how it all happened.
Jason Kelce, who fronts the musical group with Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, posted a nine-minute video Thursday documenting the "Operation Snowball" project.
The footage follows the trio around the warehouses holding the toys in the weeks before Christmas, then out on the road to three schools for special appearances and giveaways. As Connor Barwin, the former Eagles linebacker who produced all three Philly Specials albums, notes on the ride over, the initiative delivered gifts to about 200,000 kids across 338 buildings in the School District of Philadelphia and the city's charter schools.
Special guests appeared with the group for their Dec. 17 school tour, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and Philly sports mascots Swoop, Franklin, Gritty and the Phanatic. Former "SNL" star Pete Davidson also joined the caravan. Though the Staten Island native is strongly associated with New York, he's seemingly joined the Eagles fandom; he jokingly records a message with Mailata as an "Eagles WAG" during the group's stop at Alliance for Progress Charter School.
Check out the behind-the-scenes action — including Mailata rapping a bit of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song and Kelce trying and failing to flip a finger skateboard — below:
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