DePaul Student-Athletes Out and About on Vincentian Service Day
5/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
May 17, 2011
Vincentian Service Day Photo Gallery
CHICAGO - DePaul student-athletes were all over Chicago on Saturday, May 7 as part of DePaul's annual Vincentian Service Day. Student-athletes from the women's basketball, women's cross country, golf, men's and women's tennis and volleyball programs participated in the event coordinated by the University Ministry (UMIN). Vincentian Service Day is an annual event for the DePaul community to bring the Vincentian Mission to life both on and off campus.
With just over 1,500 volunteers from across the DePaul University community, student-athletes from DePaul's women's basketball team worked at the Christopher House, women's cross country cleaned up at Dunning Reed Park, the golf team partnered with The First Tee at Marquette Park, men's tennis teamed up with Working Bikes, women's tennis worked with the BUILD Chicago organization, and the volleyball team volunteered at St. Andrew Catholic School in Cicero.
Each team recapped their day of service...
Women's Basketball - director of basketball operations Ciara Johnson
For the Vincentian Service Day, the DePaul women's basketball Team volunteered at the Christopher House in Rogers Park. The Christopher House looks to meet the needs of low-income children and families in Chicago. The girls were able to help clean up the classrooms and the children's toys. They also planted a garden!
Women's Cross Country - sophomore Courtney Avvampato
The majority of the women's cross country team went to Dunning Reed Park for Vincentian Service Day this year. We were there to clean up the park entrance parking lot and the surrounding part of the park. Our services created a clear environment for others to come back and plant new flowers and plants, replacing the weeds and crab grass that we got rid of. Many of our members were at the BIG EAST Track and Field Championship that day so we had a smaller group.
Golf - head coach Betty Kaufmann
This was a great event. It was an initiative from the Golf Coaches Association to team up with The First Tee around the country. We did the service day with student-athletes from Northwestern, Loyola and Chicago State. I believe it was a great success.
Video at The First Tee event: head coach Betty Kaufmann | Student-Athletes
Men's Tennis - head coach Matt Brothers
Men's tennis spent the day with Working Bikes. The Working Bikes Cooperative is a not-for-profit tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization which diverts bicycles from the waste stream in Chicago by repairing them for sale and charity. Working Bikes is primarily volunteer-driven. Currently it receives no government or foundation money. All its operations are funded through the sale of bicycles at its storefront. Working Bikes uses that money to provide bicycles to charity organizations within Chicagoland and to ship bicycles to the Gulf Coast, Ghana, Tanzania, Angola, Cuba, Guatemala, and Peru.
Overall it was a great experience for the guys and a very worthy cause. Spent the day organizing their inventories, helping break down bikes for shipment and helping with advertising.
Women's Tennis - senior Selma Salkovic
The women's tennis team did cleaning and reorganizing of a storage area at BUILD Chicago. This organization operates in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago with the mission to redirect the behavior of young gang members and potential gang recruits in order to offer them a normal life in a safer environment.
Volleyball - junior Molly Creek
So the day started off in the St Vincent DePaul church on campus, this is where everyone working met to start the day off as a group with some group prayer and energizing cheering and motivation. Then we got on the bus and headed to Cicero, St. Andrew Catholic School. We met one of the workers for the school, first we started by bringing in loads of food for what they said was for a big Mother's Day lunch they were cooking for all the moms. From there we split up, one group worked on cleaning around the school, and then our team was either helping paint or helping in the garden. Me, Lauren and Nat painted one of the bathrooms, and everyone else worked in the garden by raking leaves planting and helping make it look nice. We also brought lots of patio furniture out so they could set it up in the garden. It was very nice to see how appreciative they were to have us there, and were very thankful we were able to help. I think at first waking up early and heading to service was a little difficult, but once we all got there, and realized how much they appreciated our help we all had a great time helping, and had a fun time as a team. It was also very cool to see how fast it was when all of us were helping and to see all of our work come together so fast in order to help others.
