Photo provided Wheeling Park senior Brenden Sands, right, is presented more than $4,000 by his cross country coach, Jacob Galik, after a fire devastated Sands’ family’s home.

WHEELING — Dec. 18 was supposed to be a good day for Wheeling Park High School senior Brenden Sands.

First, it was the middle of December, meaning winter break was not far off. Also, Sands and other seniors from Park’s Cross Country team were invited to a team holiday event with their coach, Jacob Galik.

It was during the team event that Sands received a call and learned his family’s apartment, and most all their possessions, had just gone up in flames.

Sands’ apartment was located directly above the one that caught fire at the North Park Apartment complex on Dec. 18, killing one person and leaving nearly two dozen other residents without a home a week before Christmas. With his family’s belongings largely a total loss, Sands worried his younger siblings would have an unseasonably sad Christmas.

“We lost everything. We were focusing on rebuilding, and I was worrying about how my siblings were going to have a good Christmas, because of all the gifts and other items they lost in the fire,” Sands said.

That’s when Galik and others sprinted into action.

Galik recruited current and former team parents Mindi Martin, Cheryl Miller, Lexy Frangos and Lori McLaughlin, as well as one of his assistant coaches, Tim Triveri, to see how they could help.

And help they did.

Together, the group took to calling other families on the team, as well as Wheeling Park alumni, explaining the situation and asking if they could help the Sands.

“Pretty quickly, we decided that it’s a couple days before Christmas, and that’s an awful way to spend Christmas,” Galik said. “We decided right away that we wanted to do something — just us. Just the team. … It was overwhelming.”

Between Thursday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 22, Galik’s team of helpers had accumulated more than $4,100 in cash, gift cards, and presents to offer Sands and his family. In addition, Runner’s Connection provided Sands with a new pair of running shoes.

Sands said he had no idea the level of support his family would receive.

“When my coach told me to meet him at the school Saturday after the fire, I wasn’t expecting a lot. Maybe a hoodie, pair of shoes or something like that, but when he gave me the contribution, it was just so comforting to know that everyone cares so much. Because of that, my siblings were able to have a good Christmas, and we can start rebuilding with that,” he said.

Sands said his family is staying with relatives while they worked to rebuild after the fire.

“I’ve known Brenden for four years — watched him grow up,” Galik said. “You see these kids come in as freshmen, watch them grow into young adults, and you see them get hit in the face with adult, life stuff sometimes. … The truly cool thing is that so many people gave, whether it’s $5 or $500. … We’re more than a team. When something happens, it happens to all of us, and this really drove that home.

“Stuff can be replaced. People can’t. It’ll all be OK,” Galik added.