Dec. 30, 2013

CHICAGO – The UIC women’s basketball team recently participated in The Salvation Army’s “Adopt-A-Family” program. The Flames collected toys, non-perishable food and other essentials for a local family in need.

Redshirt senior center Katie Hannemann participated in the program with UIC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) the past two years. Hannemann asked the players and coaches if they would be interested in participating this year.

The Flames decided as a group to participate in the “Adopt-A-Family” program instead of exchanging gifts amongst the squad. A Salvation Army representative selected a family that consists of a single mother who has four young children and is pregnant with her fifth child.

The coaches purchased educational toys for the children and collected non-perishable foods to donate. The players bought the essentials for the family, which included coats, boots, hats, gloves, clothes, pillows and blankets.

The players and coaches wrapped the gifts and Hannemann delivered all the presents to The Salvation Army station on Dec. 23. Hannemann met the mother on her trip to the station and said “she was extremely appreciative.”

According to Hannemann, the mother is planning on attending a future game at the UIC Pavilion. The players and coaches are excited to meet the entire family.

Source: http://www.uicflames.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/123013aaa.html

No matter what month it shows on the calendar, people involved in the Wiley College athletic programs always find ways to give back to their community. As Christmastime approaches, Wiley athletes and coaches take their community service to the proverbial “next level” the same way they do competing.

The Wildcat and Lady Wildcat athletes are in the midst of what could be one of their most successful sports campaigns in recent memory collectively across all sports, but even though the Wildcats are giving the college and Marshall community something to cheer about on the court, it is their work away from the arena which is making Wiley College players the big men and women on campus and in town.

“Giving back to the community is what Wiley is all about, as for us, it is both a personal and professional commitment,” Wiley College Director of Athletics Janet Eaton said. “Wiley is a place where everyone can succeed. We want to share our blessings with others in our community and allow them to prosper.”

Christmastime is a time for giving, and this spirit was not lost on the Wiley College Department of Athletics. With student-athletes and their teams leading the way, athletes collected approximately 50 toys to distribute to children in the Marshall area in a Toy Drive for the Boys and Girls Club of Marshall.

Wiley College’s Toy Drive is now in its sixth year of existence, and as the Wildcat basketball teams have combined for a 20-2 record prior to the Christmas break, their on-court power is matched only by their off-the-court generosity. For the second year in a row, Wiley College hoopsters and coaching staff spent Thanksgiving Day at Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall, feeding and serving meals to needy families.

“This event was something which was orchestrated by Coach Eaton in which our teams have embraced,” men’s basketball coach Andre Payne said. “We try to teach our guys how there is more to being a Wiley student-athlete than being able to dribble a basketball. It’s also about giving back and lending a hand.”

Serving meals for large groups of people is nothing new to Payne, as on game days throughout the basketball season, one can smell the barbecue chicken he cooks for the concession stand several hours prior to tipoff. It’s hardly been a diversion, as the men are 9-1 and ranked for the first time since 2008.

Payne’s tenacity for cooking for a large number of people has been put to greater use on Thanksgiving.

Since his arrival in Marshall in 2006, Payne and his wife Nikki have opened their home and brought Thanksgiving to dozens of students at Wiley College who did not leave campus for the holiday season.

The Paynes, with help from Wiley’s ABL food service, served a Thanksgiving dinner at the Ingram Hall dormitory the day before Thanksgiving. On the day of, they opened their home for the community.

“We have a lot of students who are not able to get home for Thanksgiving, whether it’s because of sports, or they are simply too far away from home,” Payne said. “We want to do whatever we can to give our students a Thanksgiving meal and show them there are people who care about them.”

Wiley College athletics is always looking for opportunities to serve, but they’re sometimes found first.

While the basketball teams and coaching staff were serving Thanksgiving meals at Trinity, Eaton met with Karen Abney Neal-Hill, who had business contacts with the Salvation Army. The meeting presented Wiley with the chance to ring the famous Salvation Army Bell, and ring the bell they did en masse.

“We were very excited to have Wiley student-athletes participate,” said Marshall Salvation Army office manager Tammy Whitaker. “Our board members were amazed and proud of them for doing this.”

Several dozen Wiley athletes from every Wildcat team took their turns ringing the bell at locations throughout the city, including Wal-Mart, Brookshire Brothers, Walgreen’s, Kroger’s and Super 1 Foods.

“It is a priceless feeling as the AD at this campus to see our athletes giving up their time to help in the community,” Eaton said. “There aren’t enough words to express the joy of seeing them give back.”

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri State student-athletes were hard at work not only on the playing surface during the Fall 2013 semester, but also out in the community. As a whole, Southeast student-athletes logged over 1,500 community service hours in the semester.

“1,500 hours in the community is a huge achievement for our student-athletes,” said Director of Athletics Mark Alnutt. “It shows their dedication and commitment to get out in community; whether it’s going to elementary schools or working for charitable and non-profit organizations, it gives our athletes another opportunity for our fans to see them in another light outside of them wearing a uniform and competing for Redhawk athletics.”

Community service opportunities this semester have included events such as Feed My Starving Children, Pink Up Cape events in October, Read to Succeed, the Special Olympics, an American Cancer Society benefit dinner, and the Party for the Good put on by the SEMO Food Bank, just to name a few.

The Redhawks baseball team led the efforts with 320 hours while the gymnastics team was also highly active in the community with about 300 hours. The men’s and women’s track and field teams combined for 265 hours. Softball and women’s volleyball also combined for over 250 hours.

Alnutt added: “It thrills me to see we’re over 1,500 hours this first semester and I can’t wait to see what our athletes do the rest of the academic year. I’d also like to give a special thanks to our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for organizing all of the events this semester.”

Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance and SAAC Advisor Rachel Blunt added: “It’s been a huge buy-in effect that started with coaches and SAAC and trickled down to all of our student-athletes. There has been a huge emphasis on our athletes giving back to a community that we ask so much of so. This is excellent to see us eclipse 1,500 hours; I never would have guessed we had that many!”

The Mercy College women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams participated in an educational session and discussion with over 30 Girl Scouts and their parents last week in which the student-athletes imparted their experiences and leadership to the young girls.

The Girl Scouts and women’s lacrosse student-athletes viewed the acclaimed documentary Miss Representation and participated in a discussion, addressing studies that have shown American teenagers to spend as many as 31 hours a week watching television, 17 hours listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, 4 hours reading magazines and 10 hours online, which all adds up to 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day. Miss Representation’s curriculum gives media literacy a much-needed gender focus, asking girls and boys to think about the effects of the images they see—particularly the ways media affects women’s and girls’ ability to see themselves and be seen by others as leaders in society.

After a 15-minute break, the women’s lacrosse players further mingled with the Girl Scouts to talk about their experiences at Mercy and the opportunities the College’s Division II sports programs offer. A small group discussion facilitated by Mercy faculty with debrief questions rounded out the session, and a campus tour ended the day.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Dec. 18, 2013) – Three East Coast Conference member schools hosted a “Night Out” community engagement event on Friday, December 13.

A tradition in its seventh year in the New York Institute of Technology athletic department, the “Night Out” event was expanded to include Dowling College and Molloy College as part of an ECC community initiative. The event allows parents from the schools’ local communities the opportunity to have an evening out after dropping off their children in a fun environment with activities run by student-athletes.

“The ‘ECC Night Out’ was another piece of the ongoing effort by the East Coast Conference and our member schools to show their commitment to being a supportive partner in their communities,” stated ECC Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff. “Giving parents a safe, fun place to drop their kids at these three schools for a few hours while they went out shopping or took care of other things, turned out to be a real success.”

Children who attended the event took part in numerous physical activities, played board games, participated in arts and crafts stations, and were given a healthy dinner.

“I am very proud of the combined efforts of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, the Student Government Association and Greek Letter Council in making this community engagement a staple for our athletic department and institution,” said NYIT Director of Athletics, Clyde M. Doughty Jr. “With this year’s partnership with the East Coast Conference and Dowling and Molloy Colleges, we have provided the Long Island community with an outstanding experience that children and parents will remember for years to come.”

Molloy’s Director of Athletics, Susan Cassidy-Lyke stated, “It was very enjoyable for our staff and student-athletes. The children were very excited and loved interacting with one another in all the different activities. The appreciative words from the parents who took advantage of a free night out was encouraging.”

“I am very proud our student-athletes, coaches and staff for making this inaugural event such a great success,” said Dowling’s Vice President for Athletics, Melody Cope. “We were pleased to offer local parents a night out. A great time was had by all.”

Student-athletes who helped run the events echoed the administrators sentiments. Adam Schuster, a member of the baseball team at Dowling said, “This was such a great event to have around the holiday season. We hope all the kids had as much fun as we did.” NYIT women’s cross country member, Gina Dorso added, ” Night Out on the Bears is a great tradition here at NYIT. It is an important event because it allows us to interact with and give back to the community. It is a fun night not only for the kids involved but for the student-athletes as well.” Tracey Balinskas, a member of the softball team at Molloy also stated, ” I had an awesome time with these kids and I loved doing crafts with them and getting them into the holiday spirit. It was great that we could give their parents a break from watching them ”

Dranoff noted the kind support provided by ECC sponsor, Sports Authority. Peter Lindenbaum, Community Marketing Rep for Sports Authority, arranged for the donation of giveaway gifts such as bags, balls, water bottles, and coupons for the children participating. The ECC is partnering this year with Sports Authority both in the community and on campus.

“We look forward to continuing this program and expanding it to our other campuses next year, as well as promoting all the amazing community support efforts our schools make,” said Dranoff.

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About the ECC

Founded as the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1989 and rechristened the East Coast Conference in July 2006, the ECC was formed to enhance intercollegiate athletic competition among member institutions and to assist them in integrating athletics into their academic program in a fiscally sound way. The ECC is committed to the highest standards of scholarship, sportsmanship, teamwork, and citizenship. Its mission is to promote the total person concept in its student-athletes, which stresses the abilities to excel in academic achievement, athletic competition, and positive character traits. East Coast Conference members include: University of Bridgeport (Bridgeport, Conn.); University of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.); Daemen College (Amherst, N.Y.); Dowling College (Oakdale, N.Y.); LIU Post (Brookville, N.Y.); Mercy College (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.); Molloy College (Rockville Centre, N.Y.); New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, N.Y.); Queens College (Flushing, N.Y.); Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, N.Y.) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, N.Y.). Associate Members include: Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia, Pa.), Dominican College (Orangeburg, N.Y.), and Georgian Court University (Lakewood, N.J.).

The ECC sponsors the following championship sports: baseball; men’s and women’s basketball; men’s and women’s cross country; men’s and women’s lacrosse; softball; men’s and women’s tennis; men’s and women’s indoor track and field; men’s and women’s outdoor track and field; men’s and women’s soccer; and women’s volleyball.

The East Coast Conference is a proud member of the NCAA and Division II. Division II is a dynamic and engaging group of colleges, institutions and conferences of varying sizes and educational missions. Division II members encourage and support diversity; value sportsmanship, fairness and equity; and place the highest priority on the overall educational excellence of the student-athlete.
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