For the second year, Notre Dame's Athletic Department helped give several South Bend families a very merry Christmas.

The department and sports teams adopted 29 disadvantaged families and treated them to a night full of festive fun at the Compton Family Ice Arena Sunday.

"We're excited about being here," said South Bend resident Vanessa Bustamante. "We don't do a lot of family stuff. It's costly with a family of six to go out and do stuff."

But the Bustamante family got to enjoy a rare night out, thanks to the ticketing and marketing departments, who adopted them.

They shared a holiday meal, skated around on the ice and went home with a large pile of presents.

"All my money goes into bills, heat is rising, gas is going up and the kids need clothes," Bustamante said. "So, it's nice to be able to give them a couple gifts instead of trying to get just one gift for each child."

Notre Dame students and faculty say they enjoy being able to give back to the South Bend community, which shows the university so much support.

"It's great," said Notre Dame Marketing Intern Katie Potts. "What they probably don't realize is they're helping us as much as we're helping them. For us to sit back and realize how blessed everyone in the Notre Dame community really is is something special."