Athletics Makes its Mark in Community Service

GBC Cares | 5/26/2020 12:00:00 AM

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The Goldey-Beacom College Athletics Department has achieved success in many areas for many years. This includes NCAA Tournament appearances, national and conference championships and awards, CoSIDA academic awards, etc. One special area where GBC student-athletes also have excelled is through a strong commitment to community service.

"Collegiate athletics provides many benefits for student-athletes across the country, but none more important than teaching them the importance of giving back to their communities," Associate Athletic Director Jeremy Benoit said. "Our coaches and student-athletes do an exceptional job of engaging with the outside community and we couldn't be more proud of them for that. Of course, we have some department-wide initiatives that we sponsor, but many of our teams have initiatives that they have become involved with all on their own."

All of this type of activity is coordinated through GBC Cares, the department's community service arm. Through this program, Goldey-Beacom's student-athletes have displayed the best of themselves by helping others who are in need. Through their time and talents, our student-athletes are not only making others lives better, they are also acquiring important leadership skills that will last a lifetime.

GBC Cares – Department-Wide Activity

Goldey-Beacom last year was presented the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Community Engagement Award. This honor annually is bestowed to one institution which best promotes the community engagement initiative adopted by Division II. This award takes into consideration one activity and is judged based on the type of outreach program, student-athlete involvement, athletic team involvement and athletic department involvement. GBC received this award just five months after the College grabbed third place for the 2019 NCAA Division II Award of Excellence. Goldey-Beacom received $1,000 for the honor at the NCAA Convention in Orlando with the intention for future community engagement events.

Goldey-Beacom's award-winning project entitled "Veterans of The Summit: Stories of Service" involved work with The Summit, a retirement community in nearby Hockessin, DE which houses veterans of the military. With the help of GBC Cares, the College's student-athletes volunteered their time and talents to provide help, entertainment and friendship to many who served in the United States military. The 2019-20 academic year marked the fifth our student-athletes volunteered their time at The Summit.

Goldey-Beacom in 2015 also was a finalist for the NCAA Division II Award of Excellence thanks to "Bras for the Cause," the College's work in helping raise money, awareness and collecting bras during breast cancer awareness month.

Cross Country / Track & Field

Men's and Women's Cross Country – The teams served as course support/volunteers for the first Mascots for the Cure 5k, held in Wilmington in early October (and featuring Strike as one of the mascots).  The teams provided event day support through course marshal assistance, registration set-up and clean-up, and GBC's own Strike was one of nearly 20 area mascots appearing that day.

The cross country units also hosted a one-week run-a-thon to raise funds for wildlife relief efforts during the devastating wildfires in Australia. Nearly $800 was raised during the week as runners collected 'per mile' sponsor dollars for the WIRES Wildlife fund.

Men's and Women's Track & Field – The squads collected athletics shoes for the MORE Foundation, which uses the proceeds from recycling/resale to provide sustainable water and farming projects in Africa and South America. To date, six boxes of shoes (nearly 300 pair) have been donated. This was a team-wide and year-round collection effort.

The teams were looking forward to a return trip in 2020 to McKean High School, where they were event managers and workers for several meets the prior year.

Baseball

The team put on a free weekly baseball clinic over three weeks for kids at Doyle Field. The entire squad participated after the squad concluded fall practice. The team was scheduled to participate in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk that was canceled due to rain, but all were signed up.  Jake Kinsell, Trevor Jump, and Marshall Awtry are part of the Leadership Academy.
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Men's Soccer

The squad had several members volunteer at the Hockessin Athletic Club.  The players helped athletes with special needs train and develop their motor skills. The Lightning's student-athletes showed how the equipment is used and assisted them in building self-confidence.

Women's Basketball

The team collected Christmas items for a family that was in need at Baltz Elementary School. Both parents lost their jobs and the kids did not know we were giving the family gifts.  The team had made multiple trips to elementary schools before this, assisting small groups and teaching the importance of arithmetics.

The team also held its annual youth basketball camp, which draws the greatest crowd of any among female student-athletes at the College.  The week-long event helps stress the fundamentals of the sport and betters the players' overall skills.
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Women's Soccer

Several players helped participate in a Veterans Day celebration at The Summit, a retirement home in Hockessin which houses many who served in the United States military. Several team members were scheduled to participate in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk that was canceled due to rain.

Women's Tennis

The team volunteered with the Tennis Rocks Tutoring and Music Program at DuPont Country Club.  The children and parents of the program gave the team rave reviews.  Their interaction with the kids and tennis instruction was amazing.

Men's Golf

The team made a return to The First Tee, an urban youth development program that teaches young boys and girls the nine core values for golf and life; honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy, and judgement.

The team visited John R. Downes Elementary School for a two-hour meet and greet with the program's golfers. The boys gave golf tips/pointers to all the roughly 20 kids in attendance and answered questions about going to college and being a student-athlete.

Softball

The team held a t-shirt sale to benefit a close friend of Kylie Quirk, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer.  The patient was given the proceeds at our fall game October 5 at Delcastle in between contests. To honor this individual, her initials were printed on the pink Goldey-Beacom softball shirts that day.

In November, the squad assisted the Ministry of Caring in its annual food drive for Thanksgiving.  During the fifth consecutive year the team has volunteered, they helped fill over 800 food baskets for the less fortunate families in New Castle County.

Men's Basketball

The squad each season holds a camp that gets the greatest attendance of all camps held by our athletics teams.  The team also has been involved with Linden Hill Elementary School as part of the Adopt-A-School program.

Volleyball

The team has been active with one of the local club squad's in helping teach the fundamentals of the sport. The coaches have spent many hours lending a hand and providing a positive influence for them in preparation for their college career.

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