Lady Senators Basketball Team Works with Area Youth

Contact: Darrell Orand
334-244-3832
November 3, 2009

MONTGOMERY—With basketball season getting underway, the Auburn University at Montgomery Lady Senators have been working hard to make another impact on the court, but it is off the court the Lady Senators continue to make an impact in the community.

AUM has long been a model for volunteering in the community and especially with the youth. The Lady Senators recently spent some time volunteering at the Children’s Center of Montgomery and with the “Make a Difference Day” at the Molina Learning Center.

The Children’s Center is a school that provides services for children with severe disabilities and medical fragility. In addition to the teachers and paraprofessionals that work with the children, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, adaptive physical education instructors and school nurses offer care and instruction for students ages 5-21.

The women’s basketball team and coaches spent a day assisting the teachers of the school in different activities with the children. They read with the students, participated in art activities and helped in physical education activities that had been planned for the students.

“The Children’s Center is a very special place and for us to be able to serve there for one day was such a privilege,” assistant coach Laketa Riddle said.

For sophomore Nicole Jones, it was an eye-opening experience to visit the Children’s Center. “It was very humbling for me to visit with the children, and also made me happy to see the small things we could do put a smile on their faces. Several of them did not understand a lot of what was going on around them, but their smiles showed what was going on inside them.”

Junior Rachel Cunningham was also making her first visit to the Children’s Center. “I really liked visiting with those children. You could see the enjoyment the children were having by their eyes and those smiles. You never knew how much we were touching their lives until they showed their big smiles.”

Visiting the Molina Center for the national “Make a Difference Day” has become an annual event for the Lady Senators. The program in Montgomery is led by Nancy Anderson, an associate professor in the AUM English department. She is also the director for Actions Builds Community program.

Ms. Anderson goes to the Center twice a week and helps the children in the community improve their reading and writing skills. During “The Make a Difference Day,” the children come to the Center and read books and then pick out two or three books to take home with them to keep.

“When we began the weekly writing workshops again in August, I mentioned that we would also be hosting the Make a Difference Day in October,” Anderson said. “The young writers immediately wanted to know if their “friends,” the women’s basketball players were coming to read with them. They look forward to that day and reading with those “tall Players” every year. They were also asking if we will have the field trip for a women’s game in the winter.”

“As all the volunteers learned again, or for the first time, there is magic in seeing children get excited about reading,” Anderson added. “For some of the children, there was the excitement of taking ownership of their own books for the first time. Some of these children have had only school books during their young lives, and “Reading Makes a Life-Long Difference” allows them to start their personal libraries. We can only hope this promotion really does make a life-long difference.”

Freshman Kamesha Strong made her first visit to the Molina Center. “I thought it was just a small thing to read with the children, but it is so much more than that. Their eyes just light up and have a twinkle in them when they were able to get books and read. They really wanted to read books to us and were always ready to get another book and read. That is what was fun to me was watching all of the fun they were having, it is definitely a character builder.”

Head coach Dan Davis knows what these activities mean not only in the community, but to the players as well. “I feel it is very important we expose our players to situations where they are giving back and learning the value of serving others first,” Davis said. “I hope it is something they will take from here and make it a priority the rest of their lives and pass it along to their children. Whether it is Make a Difference Day, or helping at the Children’s Center of Montgomery, or whatever community outreach we do as a team, it is important that we give back.”

-AUM-