Sports teams don’t solely revolve around practice after school, long bus rides to away games and winning conference championships. Contributing to worlds outside of your sport also plays a part. A team can make an impact on a community in small, meaningful ways. Here are four ways your sports team can make a difference in the lives of others.
Host A PPP: A Pink Pasta Party
Image: East Oregonian
According to the American Cancer Society, “the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%. This means there is a 1 in 8 chance she will develop breast cancer.” Although Breast Cancer Awareness month ends next week, a team can still contribute by hosting a pink pasta party.
A pink pasta party allows a team to host guests with plates of food while raising funds. Invite team family members, extra coaches and other members of the school community. Send them pink invitations with the name of the organization your team will donate the proceeds to. To RSVP, guests should send the team a donation. This way, you ensure that each party attendee has contributed to the cause.
Each member of the team should bring a pasta dish or a pink-themed dessert. A pink lemonade pitcher and pink decorations would be a great touch. As a gift to the guests, create pink themed goody bags with pink candy, breast cancer awareness pins and a card with more information on the disease. Click here for more fun ways to make your team’s pink pasta party a success.
Contribute To A Homeless Shelter
Image: Spreading Kindness Campaign
As the months get colder and the holidays roll around, homeless shelters need more help than ever. In a 2017 HuffPost article, journalist Darryl Lorenzo Wellington speaks of his time paying visits to the Interfaith Community Shelter of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He states, “Christmas time at the shelter is the season of worry about the deadly threat of hypothermia. The shelter was crowded every night. There’s also a much higher incidence of coughing illnesses, and the flu.” Any team can lend a helping hand to a homeless shelter during this difficult time.
Throughout the season, assign two team members to volunteer by serving food during dinner time or teaching a resident a special skill. A team can also organize a food and clothing drive to donate to a shelter. Set up a zone in school to drop off non-perishable food items throughout the fall and winter. Make a point to check the box each month and donate regularly to the shelter throughout the season. For the clothing drive, consider asking for hats, gloves, scarves and blankets to help keep the residents warm. Great places for your team to contribute include The Bowery Mission, Carpenter’s Shelter and Beyond Housing.
Host A Free Clinic For Local Elementary School Students
Image: USC
Did you have a favorite athlete that you admired as a child? Did you know there’s probably a bunch of little kids inspired by you? Watching you play the sport you love motivates children to try it out themselves. However, some parents can’t afford to put their children on outside sports teams. To combat this issue, teams can host a free weekend sports clinic for local elementary school children. A clinic serves as a great way to expose kids to sports before they enter middle school.
For consistency, partner with a few local elementary schools so your team can have a nice amount of children attending. Whether a vacant gym on the weekend or a local rec center, it’s important to lock down a solid location to legitimize your program. Since kids will be involved, your team should prepare a waiver for parents to sign in case of an injury or if you decide to take pictures during the clinic for promotional purposes. Your team should also create an itinerary of the program for parents to see exactly what their child will be involved in. Click here for more information on how to build and successfully run a sports clinic.
Support Your School’s Drama Department
Your school drama department pours their hearts into their craft. However, their plays and productions don’t get as great of a turn out as a football or basketball game. To make a difference within your own school, try showing more support to the drama department, your future EGOT winners.
The actors and stage crew work tirelessly up until opening night to perfect their show, rehearsing until 10 or 11 o’clock at night. Have your team bring them a pizza pie mid-rehearsal. Any member of the crew would appreciate that support while they’re in the thick of exhaustion from running lines and moving props across the stage. Your team can also promote an upcoming production to game spectators to encourage others to attend. As a team, go to a show opening weekend and remind the cast and crew their talent does not go unnoticed. As a former performing arts dancer, it always hurts my heart to see such a lack of support for the very talented drama department. Your team showing up more for the arts will make theatre members feel appreciated and will help their productions gain more recognition.
Little actions can go a long way with a community. As a team, try to come together and do something special for an underserved community. You never know who’s day you’ll make with one simple initiative.
