Approximately 150 athletes, in addition to athletic department staff, teamed up on Thursday afternoon to pack 40,000 meals to send to families in the Philippines who have been affected by the recent hurricane.

Teamwork · On Thursday, student athletes worked together to pack bags of rice for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. – Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan
Teamwork · On Thursday, student athletes worked together to pack bags of rice for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. – Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan

The group, which included members of the lacrosse, swimming and tennis teams, formed 14 assembly lines to efficiently pack rice, lentils, vegetables, Himalayan salt and some other seasonings and vitamins in bags. All supplies were provided by the nonprofit organization Feeding Children Everywhere.

“We were really excited to come over here and give you guys an opportunity to serve. That’s what we want to be about as an organization,” Peter Marshall, Feeding Children Everywhere’s West Coast event coordinator, told the students. “We want to help you guys get involved in service, and not just a place for dollars, but a place for you guys to be engaged and mobilized into serving your community locally and globally.”

Matt Ackels, director of community outreach for the athletic department, said Athletic Director Pat Haden wanted to do something for the Philippines because Wilfred “Fred” Uytengsu, one of department’s major donors, lives and works in the country.

Feeding Children Everywhere had previously done an event with the swim teams in August to pack 10,000 meals for local children. For this event, Ackels turned to the entire athletic department.

“I invited the coaches first and I got six or seven teams saying ‘Yeah, we’ll be there, we want to help out,’” Ackels said. “What really surprised me was just yesterday I emailed the entire athletic department staff and said what we’re doing and over half the staff wrote back saying, ‘I’ll be there.’”

Ackels noted that at least 30 staff members attended the event, including Haden himself.

“[The student athletes] do 3,000 hours of community service a year. … I’m trying to get to as many events as I can,” Haden said. “We’re told that 2 million people are without food [in the Philippines], so we’re just trying to do our part.”

Many student-athletes said they were excited they had the chance to give back.

“It’s just a good opportunity to help them. They’re really suffering right now,” said Annie Ruland, a freshman lacrosse player.

Coaches were also supportive of the event, even allowing athletes to volunteer instead of holding practice for the day.

“This is our 2 p.m. practice for Thursday afternoon,” Chase Bloch, co-captain of the swim team, joked.

Bloch, however, couldn’t resist making the event a competition in itself.

“It gets competitive. [Last time we] broke up into classes — freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior — and [had] a little race,” he said referring to the August event.

This time around, Marshall counted off athletes and assigned them to tables. The tables later raced to see who could fill two boxes of meals the fastest. Though the hour of packing meals was filled with fun, Ackels stressed that overall it was about helping others.

“It’s not, ‘cut us a check or send a couple people out to deliver something,’” he said of packing the meals. “It’s really ‘everybody get here, we’re going to pack this stuff and really have an impact.’”

By ISABELLA SAYYAH · Daily Trojan
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New York, N.Y. – With Thanksgiving right around the corner, many Americans sit back and reflect on the blessings they have. For the Queens College student-athletes, the evening was a chance to bond as a team, give back to the less fortunate and to tangibly live the school’s motto of ‘Dicimus ut Serviamus’, Latin for, we learn so that we may serve.

The athletic department had all hands on deck for this event as the men’s basketball team, softball team and volleyball team spent part of their night collecting clothes, packing items and making food and sandwiches to be distributed later in the night.

After that step was complete, the swimming team chipped in by packing a few vans and having everyone head into Manhattan to distribute the food, clothing and toiletries to the homeless around New York.

In fact, the main goal of the event was to build a strong relationship between the volunteers and the homeless through the act of caring. Adam, a homeless man, was very grateful for the winter clothes and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches expressing, “It’s great to see so many young men and woman coming out on a school night and caring about us”. Another homeless man, Thomas expressed “It feels great that there are still some people who still cares about us”.
The Queens College athletic department will continue to volunteer in this memorable community service going forward.

Rockville Centre, N.Y. – On Friday, Head Coach Joe Fucarino (Wantagh, N.Y.) and the Molloy College baseball team loaded up a van with over 20 buckets of baseballs and bats for donation to the Oceanside American Little League in Oceanside, N.Y. The league was devastated by Hurricane Sandy in October, as it lost all equipment for its 22 squads.

“I figured we all had baseballs and buckets laying around,” said Fucarino. “As part of the community, we wanted to help the kids get back on the field. They suffered a tragic loss to their little league due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.”

“It’s a great thing for the community that college athletes can take part in donating various equipment,” stated sophomore John Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.). “Hopefully, we can help the little league get back on its feet.”

Senior Patrick Brown (Howard Beach, N.Y.) had a similar remark. “It feels good to help them get back to where they were.”

To donate to Oceanside American Little League Baseball Hurricane Relief, please visit their Facebook page here.

Provided by the Molloy Sports Information Department.

Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. – With the entire nation commemorating Veterans Day to honor the men and women who have given of themselves to defends our nation and the values we hold so dearly, the Mercy College baseball team expressed its gratitude by serving breakfast to veterans and senior citizens at the Dobbs Ferry community center.

Mercy College is designated as a Department of Veteran Affairs “Yellow-Ribbon” school and recognized as a Military Friendly School by GI Jobs Magazine. With approximately 250 students with military connections, Mercy College is proud to support our veteran students and current service members with a number of programs and benefits.

Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 18, 2013) – Head Coach John Jez (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) and the LIU Post men’s lacrosse team hosted Camp A.N.C.H.O.R. at the Pratt Recreation Center Saturday for a fun-filled day of activities. The afternoon’s programming was also set up by senior midfielder Billy Deignan (Baldwin, N.Y.), a summer staff member at the camp.

Based in Lido Beach, N.Y., Camp A.N.C.H.O.R. (Answering the Needs of Citizens With Handicaps Through Organized Recreation) is a year-round recreation program dedicated to children and adults with special needs who reside in the Town of Hempstead.

About 30 individuals were greeted at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Pratt Recreation Center by the student-athletes. That was followed by numerous indoor activities in the gym, along with the handout of schedule posters and a mini autograph session.

For more information on Camp A.N.C.H.O.R., please visit www.campanchor.org.