Number of Participants: 40
Hours Donated: 4
Value of Time Served: $1,352
Event Type: Poverty & Homelessness
Sport: Field Hockey
Date: December 17, 2017
Location:
Adelphi University
South Avenue, Garden City
NY
About:
Hempstead, N.Y. – The Adelphi University field hockey and men’s lacrosse teams teamed up this December to spread warmth for the holidays.
In an effort orchestrated by seniors Jamie Ahrens and Joseph LaBarbera, and Adelphi professor Cynthia A. Proscia, the Panthers and local non-profit Garden Vines linked up to collect coats and other winter clothing for those in need.
The men’s lacrosse program began its philanthropic work with Garden Vines this fall, helping to cultivate, create and harvest community gardens at the Barack Obama and Jackson Main elementary schools in Hempstead, having built a relationship with Proscia — the organization’s co-founder — a clinical assistant profession in the exercise science, health studies, physical education and sport management department at Adelphi.
Meanwhile, Ahrens was looking to organize winter philanthropic work on campus for the third straight year, as she and her field hockey team, along with the Adelphi volleyball program, had organized efforts for “Project Coats” to bring winter clothes to underserved communities in the New York City area in each of the past two years.
After a little talking, and a little brainstorming, they made a perfect match.
“Prof. Proscia reached out to Joe and me, knowing what we’ve done in the past, to see if we would be interested in collaborating with Garden Vines this year to donate collected coats to a Long Island community in need this holiday season,” Ahrens said. “We collected donations through word of mouth and social media, and also received contributions to our drive from some other teams and groups on campus.”
The teams then traveled to Jackson Main Elementary in Hempstead on Thursday night to distribute all that they had collected over the past few weeks. In addition to over 200 coats, they also gave out gloves, hats, boots and scarves to students, their families, and others who arrived from the community.
“We’ve already had two days of snow this December, and this drive was part of the larger effort to help keep a community close to home a little warmer this winter,” Ahrens said.
“The community was so grateful, and the students were ecstatic. In total, we only had two jackets left over — everything else was taken by the community. We were thrilled to be able to make a difference in people’s lives this winter.”
For more information about Garden Vines, and its mission — “to cultivate and maintain healthy communities by creating or expanding food-bearing gardens that will bridge cultural, socioeconomic and generational gaps” — click here.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents’ Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.
