“I could feel his excitement,” he said. “I realized how well we were bonding (by) being a part of the Spartan football experience together. I thought that other kids should have an opportunity to experience that with their parents or loved ones, too.”

This is why Harns decided to start the Spartan Kids Ticket Exchange charity program that same year. The program allows fans who can’t attend certain sporting events to put their tickets to good use by donating them to a child who has never had a chance to watch a Spartan game, possibly even fulfilling one of their dreams.

The process is fairly simple; anyone who has extra game tickets to spare can visit the Spartan Kids Ticket Exchange website and fill out the form at the bottom of the page to show how many tickets to which event they plan to donate. The same form can be used to nominate a child to receive tickets for a game.

As it turns out, Spartan Kids Ticket Exchange could be the solution to more than one problem. After a dishearteningly low turnout in the stands during Monday’s game, head basketball coach Tom Izzo commented that people should donate their tickets to organizations such as Spartan Kids Ticket Exchange.

“I’ve got no problem if you don’t want to come to a game; I have no problem at all,” Izzo said. “(But) give up your tickets, because I’ve got thousands of people that are dying to come.”

According to Harns, the only requirement that the nominated children must meet is that they have never attended a Spartan game.

“We’ll run a brief background check, calling references and such, to make sure that the kid hasn’t been to a game before,” he said. “Financial needs aren’t really involved with the process, though. We pair kids with tickets depending on who’s taking them and when they’re able to go.”

The charity has been able to help children attend football, basketball and hockey games so far, though they’ll accept any sport that they can get tickets for.

“We’re typically talking higher-demand tickets,” Harns said. “It wouldn’t be too hard for kids to see a $5 volleyball game, but $50 tickets? Those would be a lot harder for them to get ahold of.”

During the four years the program has been running, Spartan Kids Ticket Exchange has provided more than 200 donated tickets to children and has sent 75-80 families to Spartan sporting events. The charity has reached out to children in kindergarten, high school and every grade between, and the gratitude that the kids feel is plain as day — the charity’s Facebook page is littered with photos of ecstatic kids and scribbled thank you notes.

“A lot of kids get to go to games that they might not have been able to before, all thanks to the generosity of Spartan fans,” Harns said.

Fans who decide they won’t be attending a game, no matter what the reasoning, now can donate their tickets with the simple click of a mouse and send an eager young fan in their place. All that Harns asks is that those who donate plan ahead.

“If you’re gonna be missing a game, donate,” Harns said. “We like to have a week’s notice to arrange who will be getting the tickets. Planning ahead is the key to all of this.”

It’s the look on the child’s face that says it all, though, and Harns described that look with one word: “Amazing.”

“The people who go to the games every week take it all for granted,” he said. “These kids have only seen the games on TV, and being able to watch them at the field is so amazing to them.”