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The idea truly touched Christian Pack’s heart.

The former Hanover Area High School baseball standout is standing in the batter’s box for King’s College.

And the most important swings he’s taking right now are the ones that are sure to bring smiles to the faces of chronically ill children.

Pack and the rest of the Monarchs are preparing to make a trip to Geisinger Hospital Thursday for their final delivery of more than 1,494 Jared Boxes, the King’s College baseball team’s annual project intended to brighten the eyes of frightened children facing surgery.

“Just to see the smile on their face, and how happy they are, it’s a neat thing,” King’s College coach Jerry Greeley said.

Pack knows the feeling.

During his formative years, Pack was diagnosed with Aortic Stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve that decreases blood flow from the heart. It’s a condition that has sent Pack in and out of hospitals his entire life and required six heart procedures, with the latest coming in 2015.

“I had three open heart surgeries by the time I was 5,” said Pack, a freshman shortstop at King’s.

Although he never received a Jared Box, Pack remembers receiving small gifts from family and friends while preparing to undergo some of his earliest procedures.

And he fondly recalls how much they helped comfort him.

“It really does,” Pack said. “Obviously, after what I went through, I know how they’re feeling. It’s frightening. After my (early) surgeries, I would get gifts from friends. It really picked me up. I know how much it means to these kids. I know how these kids are feeling.

“It really hit home.”

Geisinger officials say the project hit a home run.

“Oh yes,” said Kristina Brunn, a certified child life specialist at Geisinger. “It basically runs our entire program here at the hospital. Every patient who is admitted, whether they are in-patient or out-patient, they do receive a Jared Box when they’re admitted. It frees up a lot of our family-support budget. They (the boxes) are all sorted by ages, for boys and for girls. A lot of times, when parents come in, they don’t have crafts or coloring books to keep children occupied. The Jared Boxes make a big difference.”

Now in its seventh year, the Jared Box project driven by the King’s baseball program has donated 8,046 boxes to Geisinger patients, and this year’s total of 1,494 will mark the highest one-year amount by the annual project.

“It’s record-breaking this year,” Brunn said. “Amazing. King’s is by far the largest donation. They pretty much provide us with enough Jared Boxes for the year. We try to encourage other people to do different projects, because King’s take care of our needs for Jared Boxes for the year.”

It’s more than a matter of collecting donations.

King’s players fill various-sized basket with various items including coloring books, crayons, stickers, card games, puzzles, silly putty, matchbox cars, and/or a small toy and present them to children at Geisinger Hospital.

And once the box is filled, the players try to personalize it.

“You have to have a creative mind making these to make the kids’ smile,” Pack said. “Each Jared Box could take about 10 minutes to create, and you have to decorate the box — draw on it, put sports teams on there. It means so much to them knowing older kids, especially college athletes, are looking out for them and care for them. Especially the children fighting cancer.”

That’s what Greeley had in mind when he initiated the program at King’s College seven years ago.

It’s hardly a novel initiative.

Over 200,000 Jared Boxes have been delivered across the United States and the project has grown into a national, non-profit organization since it was started in 2001 by the Children at Our Lady of Victory School in State College to honor their classmate, friend and child cancer victim named Jared.

But the idea to bring such a venture to his King’s College program became important for Greeley, who will begin his 19th season as a coach at the short-season minor league level and currently works with Baltimore Orioles prospects, during hospital visits with his professional baseball teams.

”When I was in Bluefield, West Virginia, we’d take a lot of the players to visit hospitals,” Greeley said. “It struck a chord with me, how much the people really appreciate it. I wanted to do something similar with my college players at King’s. We have a thing at King’s called the Extra Innings Club, where we volunteer for Soup Kitchens, at the VA Hospital. One of the projects we started was the Jared Box Project. It started out as a small thing and it’s grown huge.”

Over the past few years, other organizations joined the drive.

Greeley, who is also full-time life skills support teacher and job site supervisor in the Pocono Mountain School District, regularly brings a group of his Pocono Mountain students to take part in the Jared Box deliveries. And he’s grown some support from area school districts — most notably 300 Jared Boxes donated to the King’s Project from Rice Twp. Elementary School.

“The neatest thing is it brings out the best in everybody,” Greeley said.

He shared a story of meaningful reward.

A few years ago, Greeley was at Geisinger Hospital with a King’s player who was injured at practice when the parents of a disabled child walked into the next room. They were told by hospital staff that the coach of the King’s baseball team was visiting, and requested to see Greeley.

“The mother and father came over and told me the Jared Box he received just really calmed him down,” Greeley said of the kid. “That was one of the neatest feelings I ever had in my life.

“Just to see the smile on their face and how happy they are, it’s a neat thing.”

King’s College shortstop Christian Pack of Hanover Township stands with Jared Boxes at the Betzler Fields clubhouse in Wilkes-Barre Township.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_pack.jpg.optimal.jpgKing’s College shortstop Christian Pack of Hanover Township stands with Jared Boxes at the Betzler Fields clubhouse in Wilkes-Barre Township. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Freshman shortstop Christian Pack of Hanover Township, left, gathers at the Betzler Fields clubhouse in Wilkes-Barre Township with his King’s College teammates holding Jared Boxes that will be delivered to suffering children at Geisinger Hospital today.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_jared.jpg.optimal.jpgFreshman shortstop Christian Pack of Hanover Township, left, gathers at the Betzler Fields clubhouse in Wilkes-Barre Township with his King’s College teammates holding Jared Boxes that will be delivered to suffering children at Geisinger Hospital today. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Spencer Shuman of Lakeville presents a Jared Box to an ill child at Geisinger Hospital in 2010 as part of a Jared Box initiative driven annually by the King’s College baseball team.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_jbox1.jpg.optimal.jpgSpencer Shuman of Lakeville presents a Jared Box to an ill child at Geisinger Hospital in 2010 as part of a Jared Box initiative driven annually by the King’s College baseball team. Photo courtesy of King’s College

Members of the King’s College baseball team carry Jared Boxes for suffering children at Geisinger Hospital during the team’s annual drive in 2000. From left to right are: Rob Lemoncelli, coach Jerry Greeley (background), Anthony Ciliberto, Marquan Thomas (black shirt), Nickey Buteow (girl in background), Anthony Sangirardi and Eric Hess.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_jbox2.jpg.optimal.jpgMembers of the King’s College baseball team carry Jared Boxes for suffering children at Geisinger Hospital during the team’s annual drive in 2000. From left to right are: Rob Lemoncelli, coach Jerry Greeley (background), Anthony Ciliberto, Marquan Thomas (black shirt), Nickey Buteow (girl in background), Anthony Sangirardi and Eric Hess. Photo courtesy of King’s College
King’s College baseball team takes swing at helping cancer-stricken kids smile with annual Jared Box project

By Paul Sokoloski

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Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski