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Wives Of Ravens Players Work To Make Holidays Happier

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ) -- A couple of national organizations are teaming up with the wives and girlfriends of Ravens players to make the holidays happier for those down on their luck.

Mike Schuh caught up with them at the Sam's Club in Owings Mills.

Shopping is a series of choices and wants and needs are different. These are the choices facing Ashley Dickson, wife of Ed Dickson.

"Mine, they don't have anything necessarily. They need diapers and dish towels; most of the stuff isn't toys or anything like that," Dickson said.

Dickson was there with a dozen other Ravens wives and girlfriends. Dennis Pitta's wife and Joe Flacco's wife went over their playlist. The recipients are 20 needy families selected by the Salvation Army.

It's sobering to see that none of the lists include things not absolutely needed.

Arthur Jones' wife picked out bedding and pots and pans.

"I can't think of my family members asking for sheets for Christmas because they have that stuff. They want...iPads and DVDs so it kinda puts things in perspective how needy some people really are," she said.

Sam's Club donated the $20,000 worth of merchandise but last year, Mataya Pitta couldn't stop at the $1,000 limit so she kicked in $500 of her own money.

"Last year, I had six kids on my list and I didn't want to tell my husband but I went a little over budget because I wanted to get them everything," she said.

Overall, Sam's Club donated nearly $900,000 this year to these kind of shopping sprees.

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