Blue Devils continue to serve in the community
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- There’s a strip of land at 43 Babcock Avenue, Silver Creek, N.Y., has been renamed Fredonia State Women’s Track Driveway.
That’s because members of the Fredonia State women’s track and field teams helped move and spread eight tons of gravel on one single Saturday morning as part of a partnership with the Chautauqua-area chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
“It was an awesome task,” said Marilyn Kurzawa, a spokesperson for the local Habitat satellite, “by some of the nicest kids in the world.”
“The lead volunteers are fantastic and the work is beyond rewarding,” said junior Grace Moore (Fredonia), shortly after she and her teammates finished the gravel work. “The house is being built for a single mother of six and her children. They are working alongside us on the house and are more than appreciative for everything the organization is doing for them.”
Kurzawa said 19 members of the men’s and women’s teams contributed nearly 109 volunteer hours. She said Moore and senior Kyle Paganello (Batavia), who worked 24 hours himself, spearheaded the team’s volunteer efforts.
“Kyle’s leadership and initiative,” Kurzawa said, “were simply awesome and impressed all of us who work regularly for Habitat. He did an outstanding job recruiting volunteers, as did Grace Moore. He was also a tireless worker who took on whatever task was asked or him, including some really tough ones. He helped reconstruct the backyard from an impossibly sloping tract to a more manageable one with railroad-tie tiers, a fence that he helped install, and tons and tons of gravel that he helped move into place. He is simply an amazing young man.”
The entire project – from home purchase to official dedication – took just over 15 months involved dozens of community volunteers. The family has since moved into the house, and a previously dilapidated structure has been added to the tax rolls.
Among the community service projects undertaken by Blue Devil student-athletes during the fall semester, members of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee collected funds for the group’s annual Toys for Tots initiative. They collected $293.73 in spare change in just under one hour. The money was used to purchase toys for needy children prior to the holidays. Men’s soccer players helped deliver the toys collected across campus.
SAAC members also raised funds for Fredonia State’s Special Olympics initiative while members of the men’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams attended Special Olympics orientation sessions to learn how to organize training groups for the spring semester.
Members of the men’s basketball team again joined forces with the Community Blood Bank for a blood drive in September. The two-day drive resulted in donations of over 100 pints pints of blood for use at Brooks Hospital in Dunkirk.
Members of the women’s basketball and women’s cheerleading teams donated to the American Cancer Society and received pink hair extensions at a local hair salon during the October observance of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Men’s hockey teammates performed maintenance jobs for area senior citizens on Sat., Sept. 10. It was the second straight year the team worked on the project.
Members of the baseball team volunteered in the Dunkirk School No. 4 after-school program to help young boys and girls with their math work. The lead teacher was Kyle Adams, a former Blue Devil player and assistant coach.
The softball team gave two free hitting clinics to area children. Several players as well as members of women’s basketball and men’s and women’s cross country teams participated on the annual Out Of Darkness Walk.
The women’s tennis team paid its annual visit to the WCA Home to assist the elderly residents address holiday cards.
