EDEN PRARIE, Minn. — There were multiple ways to get to the desired result.

Some children wanted toys, some wanted clothing and others picked out footballs and other sporting goods Tuesday night.

It didn't matter to Vikings defensive end Brian Robison how the smiles were brought to faces of the young people. He only wanted to make sure that their holidays were brighter because of the experience.

Robison, teammates and Vikings alumni players hosted 50 young people from the Harold Mezile North Community YMCA Youth & Teen Enrichment Center in Minneapolis at the Eden Prairie Walmart, and each child received $100 gift card to pick out what he or she wanted.

"This was the first year we've done it," Robison said. "It was a great event, obviously, to be able to put a smile on those kids' faces this time of year and give them a little bit of joy in their life is a huge deal to me, but probably even more so to them. Anytime you can give back to the community the way we were able to last night is a great deal."

The event was made even more special because the young people were buddied with players to "Shop with a Jock."

Xavier Rhodes, Jarius Wright, Chase Ford, Tom Johnson, Shamar Stephen, Vladimir Ducasse, Josh Kaddu, Antonio Richardson and Dominique Williams and former Vikings Rickey Young and Rufus Bess joined Robison in the effort.

"Every kid seemed to be different," Robison said. "You had some kids that wanted toys, you had some kids that wanted clothes, you had some that wanted football and sports gear, so it was really all the way across the board. You could see the different personalities in them and what they wanted to do, so it was just an awesome experience."