STAMPEDE OF SERVICE PHOTO GALLERY
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, JAN. 16, 2016 – USF Athletics has put a major emphasis on giving back to the Tampa Bay community this academic year and the Bulls' goodwill efforts continued this weekend.
More than 100 USF student-athletes and coaches participated in the Stampede of Service on Saturday. Stampede of Service is a program that allows students to become aware of social issues through community service the weekend before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Developed by USF Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement and USF Student Government, Stampede of Service has become a campus-wide tradition USF Athletics has participated in since 2006. This year, the Bulls rolled up their sleeves and completed landscaping projects at two Salvation Army locations and the University Area Community Development Corporation in Tampa.
USF's entire baseball, men's and women's golf, women's soccer, volleyball and women's tennis teams beautified gardens throughout Tampa along with members of men's soccer and other sports. Learn more about Stampede of Service HERE. In addition to Stampede of Service, the USF softball team is volunteering at G3 Life Application's Be More Program this weekend.
“We're really exciting to be working for the CLCE and partnering with them to serve the greater Tampa Bay community,” Coordinator for Community Engagement Lindsey Krakower said. “We've had an overwhelming response from our student-athletes and coaches. It will be really great to see 100-plus of our student-athletes out there on Saturday.”
USF Athletics is on pace to set a new program community service record this academic year, having already logged in nearly 2,000 hours during the fall semester. USF participated in community relations events with 32 organizations and offered 43 opportunities to volunteer with community partners, including the Boys & Girls Club, Paralympic Sports of Tampa Bay and G3 Life Applications, founded by former USF football player Ronnie McCullough.
“We're trying to push the needle not just with our student-athletes, but our staff and administration to be getting out in the community more,” Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Enhancement Jodie Libadisos said.
USF's completed community service projects in the fall included the Great American Teach-In, feeding the Freddie Solomon Boys & Girls Club Thanksgiving meals in collaboration with Where Love Grows, working at Metropolitan Ministries and visiting patients at numerous Bay Area hospitals. The Bulls also averaged two visits per week at Paralympic Sports of Tampa Bay.
“If student-athletes can get out there once, then a lot of them grow accustomed to how it feels to help someone else,” Libadisos said. “Sometimes they can see themselves when they were kids and remember someone doing something for them. It's pretty neat seeing them in their element growing alongside the people they're helping.”
