HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (Nov. 13, 2013) – The LIU Post men’s basketball team took a break from their season to volunteer at the Marry Brennan Inn, a soup kitchen for residents in Hempstead.

During their visit, they assisted in feeding residents and handing out care packages to those in need.

“My staff and I are teaching our student-athletes the importance of being involved in the community, as well as being thankful for the little things in life that we take for granted,” Head Coach Erik Smiles said. “The experience that our young men received today was both humbling and gratifying, and we will continue to teach life lessons to our student-athletes.”

The Mary Brennan Inn addresses the issues of hunger and homelessness on Long Island by providing food, shelter, long-term housing and supportive services in a dignified and respectful manner for those who seek help. They are a non-for-profit, volunteer-based organization with a dedicated staff.

For information on the Mary Brennan Inn, or to donate, please visit www.The-Inn.org.

Source: http://www.eccsports.org/sports/mbkb/2013-14/releases/111313_liupmbb

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s lacrosse team has once again taken time this fall semester to make a difference in the local community. The Mountain Hawks have taken part in a number of community service activities beginning in late August and running through the fall. The team has taken on many initiatives including a Bethlehem Parks clean up, a free lacrosse clinic and regular visits to elementary schools, a child care center and the South Bethlehem Boys & Girls Club.

The Mountain Hawks kicked off the semester with their annual Bethlehem Parks clean up project. This year, the team visited the Bethlehem Municipal Park in North Bethlehem to work on the cross country course. Players spent time digging up shards of concrete, moving tree limbs, logs and rocks, as well as weeding the surrounding area in order to ensure the safety for the local runners on the course. The team broke up into two different groups, where they started on the opposite ends and worked to meet in the middle. After removing the rocks, concrete and logs, the team then loaded them into trucks so they could be removed from the grounds.
11/12/2013 Community Night Community Night

“As a team, dividing into two groups and using our collective efforts to better the community resulted in 45 guys helping for only one hour and completing a week’s worth of work,” said senior Ty Souders. “It was a great feeling to accomplish so much in such a short period of time.”

The team also hosted its sixth annual Community Night lacrosse clinic at the Ulrich Sports Complex on September 27. Youngsters of all ages were invited from the local community and surrounding area to come and join the men’s lacrosse team to learn valuable skills by going through drills directed by Lehigh Lacrosse coaches and players. The vehicle for learning was lacrosse, but there were many life lessons taught as well. The entire team (46 members strong) was present to work with approximately 100 youngsters. The player to coach ratio was such that many of the young players received individual instruction and advice.

“It was a ton of fun to get kids out from the local community and work with them for an hour,” said Souders. “They all seemed to have a great time and the numbers have grown significantly every year, which makes it a worthwhile experience for us. They all get to see their skills progress.”

Lastly, not only has the team been giving back to the community as a whole, but they have also been focusing on giving back to the youth of Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks have been working consistently at the local Boys & Girls Club, the Lehigh Child Care Center, Calypso Elementary School and Donegan Elementary School. The team was split into four groups of 11 or 12 players and each group was assigned to a specific location to attend every Wednesday throughout the fall semester, for one hour per week.

At the Boys & Girls Club, the team members have been playing games and spending time with the children after school gets out. Kickball and basketball have been a big interest for the children as they look forward to every Wednesday when the team comes around. Some have even asked for help on their homework or with studying for an upcoming test.

At the Lehigh Child Care Center, the team is working closely with toddlers and preschoolers, many whom are children of the Lehigh University Faculty and Staff, including head coach Kevin Cassese’s own son. It is always nice to hear that the children go home and tell their parents they had fun and they got to hang out with the men’s lacrosse team. Some favorite activities are reading books, playing with puzzles, hide and seek and duck-duck-goose.

At Calypso Elementary School, the players serve as big buddies to the children who attend the after school program. The first 30-45 minutes serve as a homework/reading club and the final portion of the visit involves games and sports. Kickball is a huge hit for the children and the players at Calypso.

Finally, Donegan Elementary, hosts a program every year called Reading Rocks, where Lehigh student-athletes as well as Greek Life members volunteer every Wednesday to read to the children and help them further their own reading skills. A new addition to this year’s Reading Rocks entails a 15-minute health segment with St. Luke’s Health Network where a few staff members come in and talk to the students about good health. The students recently participated in a Zumba session, which is a dance-integrated work out. The children and players got a kick out of the session.

The Lehigh Men’s Lacrosse team prides itself on giving back to the community. This is something that Coach Cassese says is important to him personally and also to every member of the men’s lacrosse program.

“We are very fortunate to be members of the Lehigh University community, as well as the greater Bethlehem community,” he said. “We love our school and we love our city. We enjoy giving back because it enriches the lives of those around us, and in turn, enriches our own lives as well.”

Like Lehigh men’s lacrosse on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

Former NHL star helps 2 Sauk Rapids girls play hockey, will speak at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School on Nov. 23

SAUK RAPIDS — Brent Pakkala started out wanting to help one girl.

He could end up helping a number of kids in the area play hockey … and it started on Twitter.

Since the end of July, Pakkala has been able to raise enough money to help two girls from the same family to play this season when they thought they would not be able to afford it.

He has done it with an assist from former NHL All-Star Theo Fleury and the a few of several of Fleury’s followers on Twitter.

Fleury, who is based in Alberta and has not been to Central Minnesota before, will try to help more kids on the weekend of Nov. 22-24.

He plans to meet the girls and attend one of their games, give a one-hour speech at 3 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Performing Arts Center at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School and attend the St. Cloud State hockey games that weekend.

Tickets to hear Fleury speak cost $20 and all proceeds will go to the Minnesota Youth Foundation, which helps families struggling financially pay for to play hockey.

“(Fleury) said, ‘I want to talk to your community about helping those in need and helping people out,’” Pakkala said of a conversation they had in early August. “(Fleury said), ‘I want to make it big and make it beyond this year. I want to do what we can.’

“I said, ‘Theo, I’m a fifth-grade teacher. I don’t know how to do this kind of stuff.’ He said, ‘Well, let’s have at it. Let’s get on it.’”

It started in July
The association of Fleury and Pakkala began in July. Pakkala was coaching an Under-10 girls softball team that his daughter, Callie, and her friend, Hannah Trelfa, played on.

Hannah became friends with Callie last winter when the two were on the same Sartell/Sauk Rapids U10 girls hockey team.

Pakkala asked Hannah if she wanted to try softball and she had a good season. Michelle Trelfa, Hannah’s mom, went in to the dugout to talk to the coaches on the last day of softball.

“She just walked in to thank us for getting Hannah involved in softball and that she had had a lot of fun,” Pakkala said. “She said that Hannah really needed this, particularly since she can’t play hockey this year.”

Michelle and her husband, Mike, had separated and the couple has six girls. Michelle is working on a master’s degree in gerontology and Mike is a disabled veteran.

Three of their girls wanted to play hockey this winter, but the family was going to be able to pay for one, 12-year-old Abby, to play.

“I talked to my dad and he was offering to pay for Abby to play and he said he knew that it was hard, but Abby is the oldest and closest to high school, and at that age, a team sport can help kids in a lot of ways,” Michelle said. “He said, ‘It’s up to you.’ It’s a lot of money and I thought, as long as one is in, it’s great.

“They have scholarships available and they try to help as many families as they can,” Trelfa said of Sauk Rapids Youth Hockey Association. “It helps pay for about 50 percent (of monthly ice costs), which is awesome and we’ve been fortunate to have that.”

It ate at Pakkala, though, that even with scholarship help, only one Trelfa would be able to play hockey. One of the problems was that when Pakkala found out about the problem, it was July 30th and there were hockey dues that were due on July 31.

Pakkala has been a fan of Fleury’s since Fleury played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League. Pakkala grew up in Kirkland, Wash., and had seen Fleury play for Moose Jaw when they played in Seattle.

In recent years, Pakkala had followed Fleury (@TheoFleury14) on Twitter and, to his surprise, Fleury had been following him. Because they were following one another on Twitter, Pakkala was able to send direct messages to Fleury that only he could see.

Pakkala was hoping that Fleury might be able to direct him to a website or an organization that might be able to help. Instead, Fleury responded and told Pakkala to tell his story, 140 characters at a time, and Fleury would re-tweet all of them and then Fleury posted the whole story on his Facebook page.

Pakkala had found out in talking further with Michelle that their younger daughter, 9-year-old Hope, also wanted to play. They set a goal of $870. Within 30 minutes, they had raised $500.

Read the entire story from teh Source @ http://www.sctimes.com/article/20131111/SPORTS/311110004/Social-media-Fleury-help-raise-money-family

PITTSBURGH —Eight-year-old Matthew Jacko says he wants all kids to smile. On Thursday, it was his turn.

PHOTOS: SIDNEY CROSBY FULFILLS YOUNG PENS FAN’S DREAM

Eighteen months after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, 8-year-old Matthew Jacko was in the Penguins locker room talking to his favorite player, captain Sidney Crosby.

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MONROEVILLE BOY ON HOSPICE CARE: “LAUGHTER IS THE BEST…
Matthew Jacko
Matthew Jacko, 8, wants every child at Children’s Hospital to have a toy stuffed monkey that he hopes to hand-deliver.

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SIDNEY CROSBY FULFILLS YOUNG BOY’S DREAM

Matthew Jacko says he wants all kids to smile. On Thursday, it was his turn, when he got to meet his favorite hockey player inside the Penguins’ locker room.

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Eighteen months after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, there he was in the Penguins locker room talking to his favorite player, captain Sidney Crosby. (Photos: Matthew Jacko meets Sidney Crosby)

Wearing a Crosby T-shirt and accompanied by his parents, Matthew and his family toured the locker room and got to take in practice at Consol Energy Center. The night before, they watched as the team’s guests as the Penguins defeated the Bruins 3-2.

The Penguins found out about Matthew after a story by Channel 4 Action News’ Kelly Brennan aired last week. During the interview, Matthew wore a Penguins T-shirt and said Crosby was his favorite player.

It was 18 months ago when Matthew’s parents noticed he wasn’t running like he used to at his baseball game and he started to slur his speech. Within 12 hours of his arrival at Children’s Hospital, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

VIDEO: Hockey hero scores smiles during Monroeville boy’s visit to Penguins locker rooms

Even though he’s been at home in Monroeville on hospice care, that hasn’t stopped him from helping other children.

He wants every child at Children’s Hospital to smile, like he does, when he holds his stuffed monkey toy, so he started a drive for people to sponsor a monkey toy. The proceeds will go to Matthew’s family to help with household expenses so his parents can stay home to spend Matthew’s remaining days with him. Matthew plans to hand-deliver the toys to the children.

Family friend Lisa Donnelly has set up the account online. For information, visit: http://fundly.com/grant-a-wish-by-finding-marble-friends.

Source: http://www.wtae.com/news/local/allegheny/hockey-hero-scores-smiles-during-monroeville-boys-visit-to-penguins-locker-room/-/10927008/22736106/-/59r3l8z/-/index.html#ixzz2kM2mFssT

BATON ROUGE – LSU athletics had 16 of its student-athletes volunteer with Big Buddy as the organization celebrated its 15th-annual Day of the Mentor Program last Friday which gave local elementary and middle school students a first-hand college experience.

The participants had the opportunity to shadow the LSU student-athletes representing four different programs, which included football, gymnastics, men’s tennis and softball.

After meeting their Little Buddies at breakfast, the LSU student-athletes rode the school bus to campus. The Little Buddies went to classes and toured the athletic facilities, where their Big Buddies compete and train. The day concluded with a special luncheon and goodbye ceremony.

“It was a great experience and also a chance to have a moment to realize all the people that care about the children in our society,” said football’s Jarvis Landry. “But most of all letting the children be a part of an environment that makes them comfortable.”

“I loved getting to spend the day with my little buddy and show here what it’s like to be a college athlete,” said volleyball’s Katie Lindelow. “I could really tell how much the children enjoyed having mentors and the difference it made in their lives.”

Big Buddy established the “Day of a Mentor” program in 1998 to bring awareness to the service of mentoring and to motivate members of the community to become involved and make a difference in the life of a child.

2013 Big Buddy Day of the Mentor Participants
A.J. Andrews – Softball
Boris Arias – Men’s Tennis
Odell Beckham Jr. – Football
John Michael Busch – Men’s Tennis
J.C. Copeland – Football
Katie Dunlap – Volleyball
Fehoko Fanaika – Football
Ericka Garcia – Gymnastics
Harrison Kennedy – Men’s Tennis
Jarvis Landry – Football
Katie Lindelow – Volleyball
Zach Mettenberger – Football
Eric Perez – Men’s Tennis
Chris Simpson – Men’s Tennis
Tam Trinh – Men’s Tennis
Laura Whalen – Volleyball

Source: http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=209300850