HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team continued their commitment to give back to the community on Wednesday, Oct. 15 as student-athletes made the trip to read to children at the Shepherd Glen School in Hamden. The trip across town for the women’s basketball team is the most recent in a long line of community service events organized as part of Quinnipiac Athletics’ commitment to the Positive Play initiative.

Among the student-athletes making the trip to the elementary school included senior Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, N.J.), junior Maria Napolitano (Cincinnati, Ohio) and freshman Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Conn.). Once at the school, the Bobcats spent an hour with the children playing games, reading in groups and individually and working through math exercises. Players stayed for a little over an hour on Wednesday morning and instructed a classroom with roughly 20 students.

“It’s always great to get out into the community and get to meet the kids who come to our games,” Napolitano said.

The afternoon was a perfect opportunity for Quinnipiac student-athletes to chip in on Quinnipiac Athletics’ Positive Play initiative. Quinnipiac is dedicated to the promotion and development of service, service learning, experiential learning, and civic engagement programs and initiatives that involve students in the local community and challenge them to critically examine the role their service plays in cultivating personal development and social change.

“It was fun to see how excited both the kids and teachers were to have us help out at Shepherd Glen,” Fabbri said. “Very rewarding to have the kids looking up to us. Looking forward to seeing the students at some home games!”

Quinnipiac has already planned several more school visits to surrounding towns as the Bobcats continue along with their preseason schedule. The 2014-15 season will open on Saturday, Nov. 15 when the Bobcats play host to Army at 2:00 pm.

Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu

Source: http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/releases/201410154q0n91

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Oct. 27, 2014) – Throughout the month of October, various Molloy College athletic teams have participated in and given back to the community and to great causes by volunteering and supporting several charities and foundations. Below are the community service events our coaches and student-athletes have taken part in this month, as well as photos from the events.

In addition to the walks and events below, the women’s basketball team also participated in a food drive to help support the St. Mary Social Ministry Food Pantry in Long Beach, N.Y. The pantry does a wonderful job in providing food and clothing four mornings per week to the less fortunate in the Long Beach community. The team collected these items in support of the food drive: soup, peanut butter, jelly, rice, canned vegetables, powdered milk, baby formula and diapers.

As with all teams at Rose Hill, Fordham student-athletes are always looking for ways to give back to the Bronx community. The Fordham water polo team did so with a clean-up project at the community victory garden in Crotona Park.

A garden that was used in the past by local grammar and middle schools for crop growing and environmental learning for close to 50 years, the park had seen better days. Over the last ten years or so, the park and garden had fallen out of favor with schools due to its poor condition.

Enter senior water polo player Noah LeBeau. Lebeau is currently an intern with the NYS Park System, and the garden was brought to his attention by his supervisor, Portia Dyrenforth.

LeBeau and his teammates then took the initiative to make the park and community garden usable for the schools once again. The group cleaned out the overgrowth and plant beds and renovated the garden with close to 15 rubbish bags to be disposed of at the end of the day.

Provided by: http://fordhamsports.com/news/2014/10/19/MWPOLO_1019141336.aspx

PHILADELPHIA – Many La Salle student-athletes spent part of their fall break giving back to the community. The community service was in conjunction with Logan Elementary’s College Day, a day to reinforce the importance of higher education. Student-athletes painted the surrounding fence of the school, painted a small cafeteria and spoke with many students.

Climate & Instructional Support Coordinator at Logan Elementary, Steffanie Merz, who was integral in helping plan the day said, “We appreciate the time volunteered by the coaches and athletes of La Salle University during this event and so many others. The community partnership with La Salle University has benefited our students in many ways, but most importantly has inspired them to set and reach for both academic and athletic goals. We are truly thankful for our partnership with La Salle University and look forward to a future full of success for both Logan and La Salle students.”

In the spirit of the Lasallian tradition, athletes from baseball, softball, XC/Track, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, tennis, volleyball and swimming and diving teams were more than willing to spend their fall break giving back to the local community.

“We are glad we were able to bring many athletes together to take part in such a great cause and give back to a school and its students that are so close to campus. It’s been fun organizing the event and then seeing everything come together and really make a difference,” said Project Teamwork Coordinator, Meghan McGlinchey.

Source: http://www.goexplorers.com/news/2014/10/23/BB_1023143843.aspx

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Student-athletes from the Southern Connecticut State University baseball and football teams assisted students with reading and other academic programming this afternoon at Beecher School in New Haven.

This program is just one example of many community outreach events that SCSU student-athletes will take part in during the 2014-15 academic year as part of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup.

Initiated in September, 2008, the ‘Community Service Cup’ program provides a competitive format that allows student-athletes to gain an enriched experience through engagement with the on-campus and local communities by supporting ventures of traditional citizens, campus community members and peer students and student-athletes. SCSU student-athletes volunteered nearly 4,000 hours of their time to numerous outreach efforts, both on-campus and in Greater New Haven, during the 2013-14 academic year.

Source: http://www.southernctowls.com/news/2014/10/16/BB_1016143600.aspx