Equestrian 4.23.12 Katherine Hurley, SID

Student-Athletes Pack Food, Goodwill on Annual Service Day

Elmsford, NY - April 22, 2012

    In honor of the Athletics Department's annual Service Day, over 20 athletes, coaches and department staff members loaded into vans on Sunday, April 22, headed with food and helping hands to the Food Bank for Westchester in Elmsford, NY.

    Service Day is an annual outreach day for the Athletics Department that has included work with Habitat for Humanity and various other charitable organizations since its inception over ten years ago. For the past five years, the work has focused on feeding those in need through the Food Bank of Westchester.

    Leading up to Service Day, a food drive was held at the Campbell Sports Center, encouraging student-athletes and the greater Sarah Lawrence community to drop of canned foods, non-perishables and, in particular, boxes of cereal, which were the focus of this year's drive as they're a very popular item in food banks. All told, the Sports Center Food Drive amassed almost 400 pounds of donated food, including 100 boxes of cereal.

    With their donation in tow, the SLC volunteers arrived at the food bank, ready to check, sort, package and redistribute the products into various boxes headed to the county's hungry directly through local food banks in their area. Each box that the student-athletes put together weighed 30 to 50 pounds, and after a day's work, the volunteers had put together two and a half 5' x 5' pallets of these, ready for shipping throughout Westchester County.

    "We really like to work on something that's local, where we can make an impact on our community," Acting Athletic Director Carolyn Miles said, noting that the food bank staff told her that Sarah Lawrence's donation would go out to people who needed it as soon as the following Monday.

    Such a quick turnaround time at the Food Bank of Westchester comes from teamwork, dedicated staff members and a generous bunch of volunteers.

    "Volunteers are vital to the work of the Food Bank – we could not repackage the bulk foods and donated items we receive and get them out to hungry people in Westchester without the daily help of volunteers," Jeanne Wilcox, Communications Manager for the Food Bank of Westchester, said. "We greatly appreciate the Sarah Lawrence athletes who spent time on their recent Service Day at the Food Bank for Westchester. We rely on them, we need them, and we thank them wholeheartedly."

    Of the day's volunteers, almost every sports team at Sarah Lawrence was represented by one or several athletes.

    "I thought it was a lot of fun to see all the different teams come together," first year Women's Swim Team member and Service Day volunteer Brenna Rice (Potsdam, N.Y./Potsdam) said.

    Rice added that one of the most rewarding aspects of her day at the food bank was "just seeing that all of that goes on."

    "It was good to see that that exists," Rice said, "and it was awesome that we could volunteer."

    Men's Swim Team member Doug Rubenstein (Los Angeles, Calif./Hamilton) echoed Rice's feelings.

    "It felt very rewarding," Rubenstein said, and as a volunteer, he too "really appreciated" the opportunity to put in a day's work at the food bank.

    Rubenstein added that the kindness and focus of the staff members at the Food Bank of Westchester "made it really easy to connect to the recipients."

    Women's Softball member and Service Day volunteer Anhad Hundal (New Delhi, India/Vasant Valley School), who is from New Delhi, India, said she has been to similar organizations in her home country and was touched by the efforts both there and here.

    "It was really great," she said, both to be able to volunteer for the day and to see the behind-the-scenes of a food bank distribution center like the one in which they volunteered.

    The Athletics Department would like to thank all those who donated to our annual food drive and to the athletes, coaches and staff members who volunteered for Service Day. We would also like to especially thank the full-time staff of Food Bank of Westchester, who were so gracious and kind to those volunteers.

  To find out more about the Food Bank of Westchester and how you can volunteer or make a donation, please click here.

    Go Gryphons! Go Green!