Brittney Reese and J. Lock surprise MS Coast families with gifts for Christmas
Three-time Olympian track star and Gulfport High School product Brittney Reese teamed up with emerging Mississippi rapper J. Lock to give back to the city for the holidays.
Reese and J. Lock hosted a dinner Thursday night and fed over 200 people at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church and then brought presents to 15 kids around South Mississippi on Friday.
“It’s the holidays, every kid deserves the opportunity to wake up in the morning and open something up,” Reese told the Sun Herald. “It’s been great for us, it’s been a refuge for the community that we were able to put the dinner on last night and come here and give back... We’re both from Mississippi, so any chance we get to give back, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Reese and J. Lock made stops in Gulfport and Moss Point, delivering gifts to families in various circumstances, such as a family whose home recently burned down.
“I’m thankful to be able to do it,” J. Lock said. “To be able to do it with Brittney is truly a blessing... Every kid deserves a Christmas. There’s been times where I didn’t have a Christmas or anything so I know they’ll love it.”
The two braved the frigid temperatures that have sunk the Gulf Coast into a hard freeze to bring Christmas to various families.
One of the homes visited belongs to Tanaya Smith, who works as a caterer and has three kids ages 10, 11 and 14.
“It means everything because they just did something I wasn’t going to be able to do to myself this year,” Smith said. “They seriously brought a bunch of joy into (the kid’s) lives this year.”
Reese has a long history of giving back to Gulfport, including donating 100 turkeys to various homeless shelters for Thanksgiving ahead of her appearance at the 2012 London Olympics.
She was named the track and field coach at GHS in July and just wrapped up her first semester on the job.
“We got a good crew, we’re getting to do indoor season right now and then we’ll focus on outdoor,” Reese said. “The kids have been working real hard and I’ve been pretty hard on them, but they understand to be the best they have to work hard.”
The track and field season begins during the spring semester, just in time for the expected release of J. Lock’s next single in February.
