Dec. 7, 2009
For 150 area families, there were full bellies all around on Thanksgiving, thanks in part to a handful of UMass Lowell student-athletes.
On Monday, Nov. 23, members from four UMass Lowell teams - women's basketball, field hockey and women's and men's soccer - joined hands with several UMass Lowell campus organizations for the 2009 Catholic Charities Thanksgiving Food Drive at the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center.
UMass Lowell student-athletes delivered the food to the ICC from the Catholic Charities Food Pantry and, in shifts, packaged Thanksgiving meals for families to receive at the ICC.
"The efforts of all the student groups from UMass Lowell, including several athletic teams made a huge impact in our Thanksgiving food distribution initiative this year," said Scott Stolze, Catholic Charities Food Pantry Coordinator in Lowell.
"We were able to hand out groceries for the Thanksgiving holiday to over 150 families on November 23, and the students and student-athletes involved that day were front and center in getting food together, bagging it and prepping it and just being there to welcome and greet our clients. We were very grateful for all their help."
UMass Lowell coaches were contacted by Imogene Stulken, a campus minister at the University. Other campus organizations and departments, such as Admissions and Residence Life, were also vital in the effort.
The food drive was the second of such in recent weeks which involved UMass Lowell's student-athletes.
On Halloween, members of the softball team trick-or-treated in Lowell, Dracut and Billerica neighborhoods for canned goods and amassed 675 pounds of food to donate to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank.
A week prior to Halloween, the softball team distributed flyers throughout the selected neighborhoods announcing the initiative.
"This is something I had started (while coaching) at SUNY-Plattsburgh, and I wanted to take it with me," said UML first-year head coach Sean Cotter. "It was especially meaningful in these economic times in which people are struggling."
