Via such initiatives as Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart, physical education teachers at Deer Park’s John F. Kennedy Intermediate School have raised more than $165,000 for the American Heart Association over the past dozen years, including $12,716 this year alone. This annual fundraising earns vouchers for JFK to purchase useful physical education equipment.

Recognizing the school’s altruism, AHA representative Eve Pyser visited the school during the opening ceremony of JFK’s annual Field Day, presenting awards to teachers and top fundraisers.

IMG_1917: American Heart Association representative Eve Pyser visited John F. Kennedy on Field Day to recognize staff and students for raising more than $165,000 for the AHA this year.

Photo courtesy of the Deer Park School District

Thanks to a generous donation of used soccer uniforms by the Smithtown Central School District, student-athletes in Uganda are sporting new uniforms for their tournament this year.
Smithtown High School West marine science teacher Kimberly Williams and Smithtown High School East varsity field hockey assistant coach/Nesaquake Middle School coach Carisa Eye connected with volunteers who work with H.E.L.P. International. In a coordinated effort, the pair worked with members of the Smithtown athletic department to gather and box the uniforms. H.E.L.P. International volunteers, who were making a trip to Uganda, knew of students in need of the uniforms at the Masese School and helped facilitate the delivery.

Photo Caption: The Smithtown Central School District donated used soccer uniforms to students at the Masese School in Uganda.

Photos courtesy of the Smithtown Central School District

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Five members of the nationally ranked Florida State men’s basketball team spent Thursday afternoon painting, playing video games and greeting patients in the Children’s Center at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Their time spent at TMH continues to illustrate the Seminoles’ commitment to be among the student-athlete leaders in giving to the community that gives so much to the entire Department of Athletics at FSU.

“The opportunity to be in the community and meet people is one of the great things about being a student-athlete at Florida State,” said sophomore CJ Walker. “Giving back to the people who support all of the Seminole teams is very important to us. Coming to the hospital here in Tallahassee and spending time with the kids helps us as people as much as we hope we are helping them. We are fortunate that Coach Ham places such an emphasis on community service.”

Walker was joined on the hospital visit by freshmen Raiquan Gray, Anthony Polite and Wyatt Wilkes along with sophomore Trent Forrest.

“Community service has always been very important to me,” said Wilkes. “As a freshman member of this basketball team, I have enjoyed getting out in the community in my first summer on campus. I am quickly learning that getting out into the community is something we do and I am very thankful for it to be such a big part of our program.”

Source: http://www.seminoles.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32900&ATCLID=211658041

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State student-athletes and staff members will once again experience a once-a-lifetime service opportunity, as a group of 15 student-athletes and four staff members will take part in a nine-day trip with the Courts for Kids organization to Nicaragua.

The “Cats Across Continents” team will depart Manhattan for Las Camarcas de la Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua on Saturday and spend nine days experiencing the culture and working with the local community and Courts for Kids teammates building a multi-purpose sports court from the ground up. The court will be utilized by area youth, physical education teachers in addition to being a landing place for community events.

Las Camarcas de la Laguna de Apoyo is a rural community about 5 miles from the city of Granada, which is on the shores of Lake Nicaragua in the southwestern portion of the Central American country.

The 15 student-athletes will include representatives from baseball, men’s basketball, men’s and women’s track and field, and rowing as well as staff members Joni Smoller, Associate AD for Fan Experience and Sales; Dr. Ian Connole, director of sports psychology; Dakota German, video producer; and Blaine Burris, athletic trainer.

“My hope is that this experience is life and perspective changing for our student-athletes,” said Connole. “We are incredibly blessed here at K-State to have beautiful facilities, excellent food to fuel our student-athletes, and far more resources than the majority of the world. But it’s easy to lose sight of that during the daily grind. We’ll be living and working with a community where the average salary is less than $2 per day and the only recreational area for kids is a dirt field that’s locked outside of school hours. That provides perspective. And we’ll be doing really hard physical labor, that’s the real grind. It’s hard not to see things differently after that.”

In addition to building a multi-purpose sports court, the trip will provide many cultural experiences which will include language education, a cooking exchange session in addition to other activities.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to be immersed in a different culture,” said women’s track and field senior student-athlete Keiteyana Parks. “K-State is really cool because we have so many students from all over the world but to actually be somewhere else and have that experience while we’re also there to help them and work with them is really cool, too.”

Sophomore men’s basketball player Pierson McAtee also added it should be a life-changing experience.

“Going to an impoverished area in Nicaragua, getting to experience a different country, different culture, a different style of living and investing in them for a little over a week is going to definitely be a rewarding experience,” said McAtee. “I’ve talked to a lot of people who went to projects over the last couple of years and they said it was really life-changing and eye-opening just how they got to experience how people live day-to-day in a vastly different part of the world.”

K-StateHD.TV will be along to follow the experience, so fans will have the opportunity to view updates on the trip.

Student-Athletes Attending
• Samantha Bendrick, women’s rowing
• Kayla Brock, women’s rowing
• Marissa Butrum, women’s rowing
• Mitchell Dixon, men’s track and field
• Kaneil Harrison, men’s track and field
• Jordan Lund, women’s rowing
• Pierson McAtee, men’s basketball
• Keiteyana Parks, women’s track and field
• Madison Petersen, women’s rowing
• Grace Reilly, women’s rowing
• Steve Serratore, baseball
• Rhizlane Siba, women’s track and field
• Terrell Smith, men’s track and field
• Zack Supple, men’s track and field
• Zanri van der Merwe, women’s track and field

Source: http://www.kstatesports.com/news/student-athletes-set-for-service-trip-to-nicaragua-07-27-2017

On July 19, 2017, Poston Butte’s football team hosted a successful 2nd annual blood drive via United Blood Services bloodmobile under the supervision of Coach Dain Thompson.

The blood drive goal of 16 scheduled donors was not only met, but exceeded. According to United Blood Services, “26 lifesaving donors stepped up to donate, resulting in 22 procedures for our community and reaching 138% of your blood drive goal.”
The team efforts and the support of Poston Butte High School are greatly appreciated and will go a long way toward assuring a strong blood supply, and ultimately saving lives. Student athletes, coaches, parents, and teachers voluntarily donated blood as a form of community service and giving back to the community.

Coach Thompson organized the football team’s first blood drive last year as a way to build team relationships off of the football field and instill a positive sense of camaraderie. Several first time donors participated in the July blood drive.

Poston Butte High School hosts 4 blood drives during the school year and is one of the largest contributors to Arizona’s blood supply through United Blood Services. The blood drive committee was acknowledged as a UBS Division Winner and presented a banner at Chase Field. The banner represents Poston Butte’s commitment to educating the student body about the dire need for donated blood and the positive benefits for participating in the blood drives.

Poston Butte’s next blood drive is Thursday, August 24, 2017 from 7:30-3:30.

Source: https://www.santanvalley.com/news/san-tan-valley-news/pbhs-football-team-hosts-successful-blood-drive-2