For more information about 2010 Bobcat Blitz visit www.BobcatBlitz.com.
One of the main things that the MSA class of 2009 wanted to pass down to future classes was their commitment to serving the Athens community and its surrounding areas. The MSA classes of 2010 and 2011 have been working diligently to continue this commitment to community outreach. We have had three large activities thus far: Cardboard City, Adopt-A-Family, and Bowl for Kids’ Sake.
The Cardboard City event was an event put together by the Athens County Habitat for Humanity. The event brought together over 300 individuals and 38 homes to bring awareness to those that face the difficulty of living in sub-standard housing. Four of those individuals were Alicia Lawrence (’11), Claire Surratt (’11), Jessie Martin (’11), and myself. We worked as chaperones in conjunction with a local church youth group headed up by Mrs. Kate Kahler. This was quite an event. We were charged with building a cardboard house that could provide housing for our entire group of 15 people from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. This alone was a very difficult task, as we were limited a certain number of cardboard boxes, but it also was raining throughout the night. Actually by about 2:30 a.m. it had begun to rain so hard that the majority of the groups participating moved inside Morton Hall. Our group had a great time that allowed us to take a 12 hour break from our busy school schedules and realize how lucky we truly are to not have to live in a cardboard house.
The Christmas holiday is typically one of the most difficult for underserved families around the world. This year we continued a class of 2009 tradition and worked with the Athens County Chapter of the American Red Cross to adopt a family. Jessie Lamb (’10) headed up this event and provided this, “Garrett Munro (’10), Teresa Dimiduk (’10), Jamie Acks (’11), and Janice Matacic (’11) all went shopping with me, and we had about 15 people come to the wrapping party. We ended up raising $420, which was awesome! We were able to get everything on the kid's lists! The two children were 3 years old and 2 years old.”
The last big event that our class took on this year was the Bowl for Kids’ Sake put on annually by the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Athens County. The Bowl for Kids’ Sake event is the largest awareness and fundraising campaign for the Athens County chapter. The main goal of participators in this event is to raise money to support the Athens Chapter. The two classes set an initial goal of raising $125, but quickly surpassed that and finished with raising $385. This was enough to make our team the 8th highest amount raised to support the Big Brother Big Sisters of Athens County. There were five from the class of 2010 that actually bowled in the event: Darren Cohen, Ryan Holmes, Sean O’Hara, Melissa Somadelis, and myself. We all had a great time despite the lack of any great bowling performances.
The last event that we are still currently working on is the Gridiron Gallop supporting the Greater New Jersey Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). Kevin Abrams (’97) challenged the classes of 2009 and 2010 last year to raise $5,000 to support Miracles for life, and if we succeeded he would match that with a donation to the Sports Ad. Annual fund. This year Mr. Abrams came to us and asked that we raise $7,500 for the Greater New Jersey chapter of the CFF. Mr. Abrams had a place in his heart for this organization due to his friend, Mr. Bill Squires. Mr. Squires shared with us the story of how Cystic Fibrosis has affected his family. His son, Sean was diagnosed with the disease nearly 8 years ago. Cystic Fibrosis is without a cure and afflicts nearly 200,000 people in the U.S. The disease limits its victim’s ability to breathe and digest food. Mr. Squires and his family have inspired our class to join the fight against Cystic Fibrosis.
We are still working to raise our goal of $7,500 and help the Squires reach their goal of $150,000. We have currently raised over $5,000 and would love to receive any support that you can provide. Please visit our class donation page at http://www.cff.org/great_strides/OhioUniversitySportsAdClassOf2011GraduateProgram. Thank you very much for any support you can provide to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.
