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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Westhampton Beach, New York – December 12, 2013– Recognizing that community service helps promote responsibility and character in young people, TeamUp4Community has partnered with Metrx and NBTY Helping Hands on the “10,000 Hours L.I. Holiday Sports Challenge.” This interactive contest challenged our Long Island Athletes to complete a combined 10,000 hours of community service during the holiday season. Three prizes totaling $5,000 in sports grants for the student athletes will be awarded in December 2013.

“NBTY Helping Hands & Metrx are very proud to team up with the W20 Foundation in support of their Team Up 4 Community program,” said Jim Flaherty, Director, NBTY Helping Hands. “It’s an inspiring program that allows athletes to win in their local communities by taking action and volunteering to help those in need. “

Yesterday, the “10,000 Hours L.I. Holiday Challenge” successfully completed submissions, amounting to 19,597 hours of community service work performed by Long Island Athletes between September 1, 2013 to December 11, 2013. The value of their time served in the community is valued at over $142,078 given back in service. Team Up 4 Community nearly doubled its initial goal of completing 10,000 hours of community service work during this community service challenge.

The interactive contest, which ran from November 11, 2013 to December 13, 2013, also required participating student athletes between the ages of 6 – 24 to share a short video (up to 2 minutes in length) of their community service work or their team’s community service work that is posted on Team Up 4 Community’s YouTube Page. The top 10 videos with the highest number of views on YouTube is posted on the www.TeamUp4Community.org website for viewers to vote on. The voting will take place from December 13 to December 15. The winner will be announced on December 16th.

The video with the most votes will receive a $3,000 sports grant; the second-most voted video, a $1,500 sports grant; and the third-most voted video, a $500 sports grant. For official contest rules go to www.TeamUp4Community.org

“Similar to athletics, volunteering in your community helps build character and self-esteem in young people, while at the same time helping make a difference in the lives of others. I truly am impressed by all of the student athletes in Long Island who participated in the 10,000 Hours L.I. Holiday Sports Challenge by doing helpful work in the community – joining together to collectively make a difference,” said Steve Webb, Team Up 4 Community Founder and President. “We are hoping the digital component to this challenge goes viral and quickly reaches thousands of young Long Island athletes. The contest’s online viewing and voting components for friends and family will surely make the contest entertaining for all!”

One highlight of the “10,000 Hours L.I. Holiday Sports Challenge” included an entry from Brentwood, N.Y. student athletes. Brentwood student athletes teamed up and completed over 8,500 hours of community service work alone within their own community. JV and Varsity High School athletes participated in events such as feeding the homeless, cleaning up the courtyards at Brentwood high school, holding sports clinics twice a week for the local youth, as well as hosting coat, food and toy drives which is essential around the holiday season. In fact, the high school athletes even engaged a youth cheerleading group from the local elementary school in their efforts. Brentwood athletes truly demonstrated what the challenge was all about: through the act of sharing, their community service work provides a positive example that will INSPIRE others to take ACTION in their own communities as well, creating a ripple effect! The Brentwood athletes are still continuing this weekend in their community service efforts. On Saturday December 14, 2013 they are hosting a toy drive at the boys high school basketball game at 5:45 PM.

Retired New York Islanders forward Steve Webb created project Team Up 4 Community through his W20 Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to promoting social responsibility and community giveback through athletics. By highlighting different types of community service, young athletes will learn life skills that in turn increase their self-confidence, promote responsibility and independence, and help build strong character. Community services performed by youth strengthens their sense of civic engagement and community and helps them to achieve their educational, developmental and social goals.

Stony Brook, N.Y. – In the spirit of giving during the holiday season, Stony Brook Athletics put on its second annual Stuff-A-Bus event, taking up donations of new, unwrapped toys and then delivering them to pediatric patients at Stony Brook University’s Cancer Center.

On Dec. 11, Stony Brook student-athletes across all sports, administrators and Wolfie gathered the toys, stuffed the Wolfie Wagon, courtesy of Competition Automotive Group, and delivered them to the Cancer Center’s Christmas tree, located within pediatric oncology playroom.

After delivering the toys, the student-athletes and Wolfie interacted with young patients who were receiving treatments that day. Each patient went through the group of toys to find the one that excited them the most. Then the student-athletes made sure they enjoyed their new toys by playing with them.

“Interacting with the kids is great,” said sophomore Stephanie McFadden of the volleyball team. They’re awesome. With the hardships they are going through, they are so strong, and I think they are amazing. For me and my team, we love interacting with kids and we love being in the community. Coming out here makes us feel a part of the community and something bigger.”

The day was a joint coordination between Stony Brook Athletics, the Sunrise Fund and the Cancer Center, led by Athletics Manager of Marketing Chris Murray and Certified Child Life Specialists Lauren Sharaby, Paulette Walter and Michael Attard.

Stony Brook Athletics thanks all the fans, staff, student-athletes and Competition Automotive Group for donating to the cause.

Video of the event will be available on this Friday’s Get Your RED On Minute at GoSeawolves.org.