In the midst of the holiday season, the Bears brought joy to 50 Leo High School families in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood Tuesday night.

Through a 10-year partnership between the school and Bears Care — the organization's charitable arm — the annual "Bears Bearing Gifts" initiative provides families on the city's South Side with Christmas gifts for kids, household essentials, gas and grocery gift cards and a festive evening with their community.

The positive impact of Tuesday's event was felt almost immediately.

"We received an email just hours after the event from a parent who mentioned that she had been struggling to keep gas in her car and purchase groceries for her family, especially during the holiday season," said Marge Hamm, director of Bears Care. "But after being afforded the opportunity by her son's school to attend the event, she said that the Bears had unknowingly answered her prayers with the gifts we provided her.

"It goes to show the need for additional support around the holidays in our community is everywhere. It doesn't bear a specific look, and it isn't something that people necessarily choose to talk about, but we hope our fans, if they have the opportunity and means to help another in any way this season, can help answer someone else's prayers."

With the help of Bears staff and family members, local police officers and other community members who volunteered, families were treated to a catered dinner, kids activities like coloring, cookie decorating and face-painting as well as a personal shopping experience. Staley Da Bear and former defensive lineman Anthony "Spice" Adams, who played the role of Santa, also brought holiday cheer to Leo.

Thanks to a generous donation from GEICO, the Bears were also able to provide a wide range of educational games and books for the families to take home.

Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright spent the evening at Leo to provide his support as well, bringing along his fiancée Amanda and their two daughters, Avani and Mayari.

While Wright is new to Chicago, having signed with the Bears this April, he has "felt the love and felt welcomed" by the community. While he doesn't have the opportunity to meet many fans in season or respond to the flood of social media messages he receives, Wright wants the city to know he appreciates the support and is here for them as well.

"It's just important to give back, especially to give back to the kids," Wright said. "For me growing up, I wish I had that presence from someone in the NFL or the NBA that you can kind of put your finger on and be like, 'whatever I want to do, it's attainable.'

"I've had a bunch of people who helped me get to where I'm at, so I think it's just important for me to be here in the community, interacting with these families and letting them know that I'm here. I may not physically be here every time, but when the opportunity does present itself, I definitely try to get out and just be a positive role model in the community."

Leo High School principal Dr. Shaka Rawls believes seeing current players like Wright or former players like Adams inspire the youth is powerful for the entire community.

"It's special because not only do we get a chance to serve our community, which is one of the core tenets of Leo High School," Rawls said, "we also get to open the doors and make the Chicago Bears, huge franchise, accessible to people in Auburn Gresham. And that's what we lack in this community is access. And we at Leo consider ourselves to be a conduit to that access.

"To have professional athletes come into the building and allow students from this community to feel seen by someone who's famous, to be recognized by an organization like the Bears, is impactful. It's huge for us. It gives them hope. We're hoping that we can create the next Nahshon right here."

To round out the special evening, the acclaimed Leo High School Choir, which finished fourth on the latest season of America's Got Talent, made a surprise appearance and performed for the Bears staff. Rawls, who has seen many variations of the choir over the years, was grateful for the organization's longtime support of both the group and the school as a whole.

"In 2016, almost 10 years ago to the day, we were actually performing at a Bears-Giants game," Rawls said. "So watching that group, which is long gone and graduated, and now being able to kind of top off this amazing run that we've had over the last six months with America's Got Talent and performing for the Pope and just meeting President Obama, and now really ending this year with a performance at the Bears, is huge for them.

"They burst into celebration when I told them this afternoon that we were performing next week. So the Bears have put the exclamation point on 2025, which was an amazing year for Leo High School."