Inside the NFL Films studio in New Jersey, about 40 kids from the Philadelphia Children's Alliance and their families gathered around celebrating the holidays.
They danced to music, mingled, and then all of the sudden Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata walked through the doors, followed by Jason Kelce later in the night.
The gathering was a celebration put on by The Philly Specials — Kelce, Johnson, and Mailata's singing group. The trio has made multiple Christmas albums in year's past but didn't come out with a new one in 2025. Instead, they sold plushie dolls of the group and used those proceeds to host Operation Snowball at NFL Films.
"It's always been bigger than us, man. It's always been about giving back to the community, to the kids," Mailata said. "It hasn't been about the singing, as good and as fun as it's been. It's always been about how can we help someone else. How can we enrich the lives of our youth in Philadelphia? That's what it's been about.
"Today, I guess it's a combination of all the albums that we put together and just putting on something fun, something light-hearted for the kids that they can enjoy. We didn't come out with the album this year, so this is just our way of giving back to the community again, this year, on a smaller note. Something more intimate. It's one of those ways we're giving back because it's always been bigger than us."
The kids in attendance got to participate in events with the players such as freeze tag, limbo, and hot potato. They also got special visits from SWOOP and characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Strawberry Shortcake, and the Teletubbies.
There then was a photo opportunity with the players and characters, followed by an exclusive early screening of the new SpongeBob Movie, Search for SquarePants.
"It's everything," Johnson said about serving the community in Philadelphia. "When I was a young player, I saw Connor [Barwin] kind of take action really early on in his career to take on helping the community. He kind of extended his whole idea to us, and it's grown to what it has become, but it's all been with love and a lot of fun and trying to help as many people out and putting smiles on people's faces."
Connor Barwin has been a pivotal factor in the creation of The Philly Specials. He helped produce the albums and makes sure everything comes together events wise while the players focus on football.
Last year, Barwin helped the group give out toys to every single kid in the School District of Philadelphia. No one ever thought the group would reach this point, but after four years here they are, and they continued their tradition of giving back in 2025.
"I didn't think we would even raise enough money the first year to pay for making the record and then we raised a million dollars," Barwin said. "I had no idea [we would make it here], but it's a credit to those guys, them making great music. It's a credit to Philly and the community around football and the city, people coming together around this. I mean, there's so much positivity around this project that people want to be involved and these guys want to continue to do something." — Written by Matt Ryan
