Organize Community Service Hours For Your Student AthletesRound up your team for service projects that will help them earn community service hours for college!
Student athletes often have trouble getting the needed community service hours for their college applications. Playing sports involves untold hours on the practice field and then on the playing field. Combine those commitments with homework, school projects and SAT or ACT preparation and for most students there is little time left for involvement in other arenas of high school life. In many cases community service projects fall to the wayside not out of lack of interest, but rather lack of time. College admissions officers look for the students who give their time to others. A strong community service commitment also enhances college scholarship opportunities. All college application activity resume sheets have areas to list community service hours and project involvement.
Baseball Hit-A-Thon: Plan an hour one afternoon to gather the team and run your own Home Run Derby. Have the kids decide what organization will be the recipient of the monies collected. Then let your team members solicit friends, family and neighbors to commit a certain monetary amount for each homerun hit by the team members. Advertise your event in the local paper. Sell snacks and drinks that are donated by the booster families and donate those proceeds too. It is an easy event to plan and is fun for kids and parents alike. Make sure after the event that you publicize the amount donated to the organization. If someone takes a photo of the donation being given to the organization, send it in with the press release.
Basketball Shoot Around – Run your event the same way outlined for the "Hit-A-Thon" but do it in the gym like the NBA All Star Dunk Contest. If your team can round up some NBA jerseys, they can wear them of their favorite pro player.
Share A Smile with Sick Children: Our football booster club donated “beanie baby” sized stuffed animals of the school mascot. The players all got together and wrapped, ribboned and tagged these small gifts for a local hospital ward. Then they went over there to deliver these little gifts. Not sure what those children liked best, the toys or all those big guys spending some time with them. Don't be shy about asking for donations.. you may find a local business that is willing to be a corporate sponsor and donate the toys. Just make sure that you give the company credit in any press releases or publicity. Here are some of our boys busy at work on this project.
Food, Toy or Coat Drive – These are great for that big game where you are assured a lot of fans. Publicize your drive and ask all the fans to donate the specified item at the door of the game. The athletes then meet to sort, package and deliver the items to the specified charity. Perhaps the booster club could put together a pot luck dinner for the kids while they are preparing the items for delivery.
Hold A Team Car Wash: – This is a fun and easy way to earn community service hours.These are sometimes done as team fundraisers..but organize one and donate the proceeds. Sell tickets in advance as well as at the event. Mark on the tickets who the charity recipient will be. Our school allowed the car wash to be held on sight. The kids had a great time together washing the cars after a morning practice session and best of all.. the fun was for a good cause!
These are just a few ideas, I am sure that your booster club and student athletes could come up with even more! By running one community service project each season, your student athlete will have a well- developed community service resume to add to their college application activity sheet by the time they are seniors. In the interim they will have learned how to organize and run a service project, earn community service hours and best of all, reach out to help other people.
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