Basketball team builds houses
Jeff Ventrella
Issue date: 10/8/09 Section: News
On Saturday Oct. 3, the Hillsdale College men's basketball team partnered with Hillsdale County Habitat for Humanity to rehabilitate a house in Jonesville as part of the HCHFH's "Sports Build 09" program.
HCHFH President Melodie Coles said the volunteer organization was thrilled to have the Charger men help out with the rehabilitation project, located at 327 Willow St., especially given this year's theme.
"Each year Michigan Habitat affiliates sponsor a themed build," Coles said, "This year's theme is 'Sports Build 09.' We're honored that the Charger basketball team chose to team up with Habitat this year, and we're proud to feature them in our Sports Build event," Coles said.
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Dan Evans said that he and Head Coach John Tharp wanted the basketball team to be more involved in the greater Hillsdale community outside of playing games and running high school training camps.
"We spent the summer looking at different ways for our team to give back to the community, and we felt Habitat for Humanity would be a tremendous organization for us to get involved with," Evans said.
Evans contacted the local HFH office about possible opportunities for the basketball team to serve approximately two weeks before the date the organization had planned to renovate the house as a part of the sports build project.
Though they were scheduled to perform landscaping and painting at the Jonesville location and preparatory work at a construction site on Merry Lake in Waldron, bad weather and a hold-up in the acquisition of building permits forced the 18 men and three coaches from Hillsdale to focus their efforts on interior work at the Jonesville location, where they both primed and painted the ceilings and walls.
"It gives us a good chance to show what we're about," said senior guard Tyler Brand. "We take pride in giving back to the community off the court."
Junior Joe Caruso, also a guard, said that the team did not need extra motivation to volunteer and was in fact eager to do so.
"Coaches told us about it and we're not going to turn down an opportunity to help the commu-nity," he said.
Evans said this is typical of the team, as the players realize the importance of efforts to help the surrounding area, which also offer great team bonding opportunities.
In addition to renovation work, several members of the team volunteered to man the Habitat for Humanity booth at the Hillsdale County fair.
The booth featured raffle prizes that included, among other things, a basketball autographed by the team and four season passes for the Charger's upcoming season, which starts Nov. 15.
Tharp stated that the team will likely look to take advantage of more volunteer opportunities later this year, certainly over winter break when the team is still on-campus and possibly in the spring as well.
"We want this to be a permanent aspect [of the basketball program]; we want them to think outside their shell," Tharp said.
HCHFH President Melodie Coles said the volunteer organization was thrilled to have the Charger men help out with the rehabilitation project, located at 327 Willow St., especially given this year's theme.
"Each year Michigan Habitat affiliates sponsor a themed build," Coles said, "This year's theme is 'Sports Build 09.' We're honored that the Charger basketball team chose to team up with Habitat this year, and we're proud to feature them in our Sports Build event," Coles said.
Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Dan Evans said that he and Head Coach John Tharp wanted the basketball team to be more involved in the greater Hillsdale community outside of playing games and running high school training camps.
"We spent the summer looking at different ways for our team to give back to the community, and we felt Habitat for Humanity would be a tremendous organization for us to get involved with," Evans said.
Evans contacted the local HFH office about possible opportunities for the basketball team to serve approximately two weeks before the date the organization had planned to renovate the house as a part of the sports build project.
Though they were scheduled to perform landscaping and painting at the Jonesville location and preparatory work at a construction site on Merry Lake in Waldron, bad weather and a hold-up in the acquisition of building permits forced the 18 men and three coaches from Hillsdale to focus their efforts on interior work at the Jonesville location, where they both primed and painted the ceilings and walls.
"It gives us a good chance to show what we're about," said senior guard Tyler Brand. "We take pride in giving back to the community off the court."
Junior Joe Caruso, also a guard, said that the team did not need extra motivation to volunteer and was in fact eager to do so.
"Coaches told us about it and we're not going to turn down an opportunity to help the commu-nity," he said.
Evans said this is typical of the team, as the players realize the importance of efforts to help the surrounding area, which also offer great team bonding opportunities.
In addition to renovation work, several members of the team volunteered to man the Habitat for Humanity booth at the Hillsdale County fair.
The booth featured raffle prizes that included, among other things, a basketball autographed by the team and four season passes for the Charger's upcoming season, which starts Nov. 15.
Tharp stated that the team will likely look to take advantage of more volunteer opportunities later this year, certainly over winter break when the team is still on-campus and possibly in the spring as well.
"We want this to be a permanent aspect [of the basketball program]; we want them to think outside their shell," Tharp said.
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