Oakland Reliever Sean Doolittle Hosts Syrian Families for Thanksgiving
Major League Baseball players are enjoying their offseason with friends and family. Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and friends as well.
However, for many Syrians, family and friends seem millions of miles away. This Thanksgiving however, Sean Doolittle a relief pitcher for the Oakland A’s and girlfriend Eireann Dolan hosted 17 refugee families from Syria for a huge meal in Chicago on Wednesday night. Attending the meal was Rahm Emanuel the Mayor of Chicago.
On Instagram, Dolan wrote that Chicago was lucky to have the 17 refugee families from Syrian calling the Windy City their new home.
She added that she thought she and Sean would officially welcome the families with one of the country’s greatest traditions – Thanksgiving.
She thanked the Mayor as well as Alderman Burke for also joining them at the party. Dolan wrapped up her Instagram post by posting a link for being a sponsor for one of the families.
Syrian citizens have been leaving their country for a number of months but this story gained national attention the past few weeks following the terror attacks in Paris, when one of the Paris attackers snuck into France with one of the refugee groups.
Some U.S. states, through their governor’s offices, have said they are not accepting any of the refugees from Syria.
Doolittle has been with the Oakland A’s organization since the 2007 draft when selected in the first round from Virginia.
He has become an effective reliever since his debut during the 2012 season, though injuries helped to derail this past season after he became the closer for the team during 2014.
Dolan was not happy with how her state was on accepting refugee families from Syria.
She is a broadcaster and writer and lives in the San Francisco Bay area with Doolittle for the past year. However, her official residence is still Arizona and Doug Ducey the governor of that state wanted an immediate halt to all refugees in his state.
That is why she contacted the Syrian Resettlement Network in Chicago to arrange to host the 17 families they are currently working with, for the dinner on Wednesday night.
Doolittle will continue to do what he can with his partner Dolan to help those less fortunate, but the Thanksgiving dinner was a fine example of how hospitable Americans can be for their most important holiday of the year.
