OAKDALE, N.Y.- The Dowling College men’s basketball team participated in the Federation of Organizations Community Center Coat Drive earlier this week.

Members of the team and coaching staff gathered various coats and winter clothing and delivered them to the Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) Patchogue, N.Y. location. Every donation enables the program to help individuals and communities flourish by providing quality services to “at-risk” youth, senior citizens, people who are mentally ill and the homeless.

Recovery Concepts is a comprehensive rehabilitation program that brings together rehabilitation, support and clinic services all under one roof. The program provides a range of services that can be personalized to assist an individual in meeting their personal goals. The services are provided individually or in a classroom setting, and are based on evidence-based practices, which means they are proven to work!

Services include rehabilitation, support and clinic treatment. The individual can pick and choose which is right for them.

OAKDALE, N.Y.- The Dowling College men’s basketball team participated in the Federation of Organizations Community Center Coat Drive earlier this week.

Members of the team and coaching staff gathered various coats and winter clothing and delivered them to the Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) Patchogue, N.Y. location. Every donation enables the program to help individuals and communities flourish by providing quality services to “at-risk” youth, senior citizens, people who are mentally ill and the homeless.

Recovery Concepts is a comprehensive rehabilitation program that brings together rehabilitation, support and clinic services all under one roof. The program provides a range of services that can be personalized to assist an individual in meeting their personal goals. The services are provided individually or in a classroom setting, and are based on evidence-based practices, which means they are proven to work!

Services include rehabilitation, support and clinic treatment. The individual can pick and choose which is right for them.

Taylor-Bay Sutton has done community service before but nothing quite like what she experienced at Home of the Innocents.

Sutton and her 18 Long Island University Post field hockey teammates visited the non-profit agency on Wednesday morning. LIU Post is in town as part of the NCAA Division II National Championships Fall Festival.

According to the NCAA, more than 700 student-athletes will interact with local youth in community outreach projects this week at the Home of the Innocents, Nativity Academy, three Boys and Girls Clubs, eight Jefferson County public elementary schools and three YMCA branches.

The LIU Post field hockey team went to the Home of the Innocents’ Kosair Charities Pediatric Convalescent Center. The KCPCC is a home for medically fragile children, ages birth to 21. This facility is for individuals who require 24-hour nursing care.

The players handed out Christmas stockings filled with coloring books, stickers, crayons, and puzzles.

Last year at Virginia Beach, Sutton said the team went to schools and taught field hockey. She said this was a better experience.

“This is definitely more rewarding,” Sutton said. “It’s nice to see children in different ways. It was nice to be able see children who can’t really go out in the world and see what other children can do.”

Dani Crouse said her favorite part was being with the non-verbal children.

“It was nice to see their reactions when we were playing with them, telling stories,” Crouse said. “Even if was a tiny smile, a little twitch of the arm.”

MORE: Louisville welcomes athletes for NCAA Festival

The KCPCC currently houses 76 children. According to KCPCC activities coordinator Mary Jane Marty, there is a benefit to having visitors.

“We do provide community access for any of our children who are medically able to do that,” she said. “But it is a huge production in terms of busses and coordinating medical personnel. So it doesn’t happen often. Having a group come in really provides a lot of stimulation for our children.”

To volunteer or donate to Home of the Innocents, please visit the website: homeoftheinnocents.org.

Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/2014/12/03/division-ii-athletes-local-outreach-mission/19865847/

AMHERST, N.Y. – On Saturday, November 29, the Daemen College men’s basketball team collaborated with the North Tonawanda Department of Youth, Parks and Recreation to conduct a free clinic for youth basketball players at the North Tonawanda Youth Center, the former Grant Elementary School, at 35 Grant Street in the City of North Tonawanda.

The clinic ran from 9 a.m. until noon and featured three, separate one-hour sessions for children in grades 3-8. Approximately 100 kids participated in the event.

Several players from Daemen’s men’s basketball roster were in attendance to help put the children through drills designed to teach the fundamentals of the game. The clinic included teaching sessions on dribbling and ball-handling, passing and shooting. Included among the clinicians were senior guard Aaron Davis (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and sophomore guard Jesse Lalka (Tonawanda, N.Y./Tonawanda), both of whom are the all-time leading scorers for their respective high school teams in the Twin Cities area.

“The Recreation Department was very glad to have Daemen College be a part of our youth basketball community,” said Alex Domaradzki, Youth Center Supervisor. “The kids look up to these athletes as role models, and were really excited to have the opportunity to take instruction from them. It’s great to see a local college not only building success on the court but also building relationships within the community.”

“We are very fortunate as coaches and student-athletes to be involved with the game of basketball on a daily basis. For us to use our knowledge and passion for the game, and pass that on to the younger generation is very rewarding,” said Daemen associate head coach Mike Miranto, a North Tonawanda native, who helped coordinate and conduct the event. “We couldn’t be happier about the turn-out that we had, and we thank the Recreation Department for allowing us to come in and do this. Personally speaking, I grew up with athletic programs offered by the N.T. Recreation Department, so it was especially humbling to give back to the community in this fashion.”

Follow Daemen College athletics on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.

Students on Long Middle School’s athletic teams have been putting some long hours into serving their community.

On Nov. 25, the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams volunteered at the First Baptist Church’s soup kitchen. On Tuesday, the wrestling team also volunteered at the soup kitchen, serving meals to the needy. It’s all part of a community service program that Long Middle has had for three years now.

Within this program, student-athletes have picked up litter, donated canned goods to local churches and held charity games to raise money for cancer research and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

“We’re trying to teach them that just because they are a ‘star’ per se, they still need to give back,” said Athletic Director Jessica Mason, who also coaches the girls’ basketball team. “So if we do have future kids that go to play in the NFL, they already know they should be giving back to different people.”

Mason said the students were pretty receptive to the lesson. In the three years the program has been running, Mason said she has never heard a single complaint from her students.

“Honestly, you would think middle-school kids going to go work a soup kitchen, that they wouldn’t be excited, but they actually really look forward to it,“ Mason said.

Students are assigned food items such as hot dogs or buns, which they bring from home to serve at the kitchen. The coaches provide the drinks, and together, coaches and players serve the meals to the needy.

”I think it opens their eyes and helps team-building” Mason said. “Because they don’t realize that some of the kids that are there are their classmates.”

Mason said some of the girls on the team would sit down and eat with classmates who came into the soup kitchen.

“We don’t want anybody to treat each other differently,” she said.

Boys’ basketball coach Carlo Bowen said he has noticed the volunteer work helping the children’s teamwork skills.

“They mixed in,” Bowen said. “all the eighth-graders didn’t just stay with the eighth-graders, they mixed up with the sixth graders. It made the process go smoothly.”

Thirteen-year-old forward Yisher Austin said she enjoyed working the soup kitchen and that she believes the community service is a good reflection of the team’s character.

“It was really exciting because you’re helping out your community,” she said.

“It’s not all about what we do on the court; it’s about our character, that’s what really having a team is all about,” Austin added. “It’s about building character instead of just playing a position on the team.”

Reach reporter Randy Garner at 843-537-5261 and follow him on Twitter @CherawChronicle.

Source: http://www.thecherawchronicle.com/news/home_top-localnews1-sports/150747754/Volunteering-teaches-teamwork