The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Give Back To The Community
7/13/2010 | Rebel Ready
July 13, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss recently capped a successful 2009-10 sports season, but for the Rebels, giving back to the community is just as important as winning on the court or field. Each of the Rebels' programs places a high importance on reaching out to the community and making a positive impact.
"We place a high priority on community service as an athletics department," said Ole Miss Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations Derek Horne. "I think the impact of giving back shows student-athletes the importance of community and helps them understand that they are role models."
The Ole Miss Student-Athlete Advisory Committee oversaw the Rebels' major community service projects for the year. The projects included the "SEC Together We CAN Food Drive" to gather food for needy families in the Oxford area, "Cell Phones for Soldiers" campaign, which collected cell phones for the 5,000 Mississippi soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, "Reading with the Rebels," "Rebel Reruns," which collected over 325 pairs of shoes for underprivileged youth in Kenya, "National Student-Athlete Day," where local elementary school children visited the Ole Miss campus and learned the importance of sportsmanship, and the Special Olympics, where special needs children participated in athletic events on campus alongside Rebel student-athletes.
Those were not the only community service projects for the year, as individual programs entered into the community to make a positive impact.
Houston Nutt's football squad visited a children's hospital in Dallas during Cotton Bowl week, and senior Dexter McCluster was named to the SEC Community Service Team. McCluster took part in the "As We Grow" Summer Fitness Program and "Arts for the Angels" charity performance for Angel Ranch, with all proceeds going to benefit temporarily displaced children who are in the protective custody of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
The Rebel softball team visited Le Bonheur and St. Jude Children's Hospitals in January to interact with the children. While on the visit, the team adopted a young St. Jude patient, Hanley Hines, as an official member of the Ole Miss softball team, presented Haley with her own jersey and locker and had her throw out the first pitch at a game this season.
The Rebel fastpitch squad also organized "Kids Take Over The Park Day" in support of Le Bonheur Children's Hospital for the April 25 game against Auburn. Children volunteered for various jobs around the ballpark, including bat boy, cheerleader and field crew, and fans donated toys and items of need for the children of Le Bonheur.
Danielle Johnson and the Ole Miss women's soccer team organized a fundraising drive within the local community for the "Play Soccer So They Can" campaign of the Opportunitas Aequa organization, which raised money and social awareness to improve the lives of war-affected children in Rwanda and Uganda.
SEC Cross Country champion Barnabas Kirui participated in the Cultural Exchange Program, in which students adopt a foreign exchange student in his or her first semester on campus. The goal of the program is to help those students have a seamless transition into college and to the United States and its culture.
Renee Ladner's women's basketball squad collected money for Thanksgiving food baskets and adopted a needy family during the Christmas holidays, while the men's basketball team delivered Christmas gifts to underprivileged children from the local Boys and Girls Club.
The Ole Miss rifle team took part in a community service day at the Azalea Gardens Senior Living Community in Oxford where team members visited with the residents and hosted a Bingo session.
Senior catcher Scott Haltom and the Ole Miss baseball team visited children at St. Jude Children's Hospital and participated in the "Ole Miss Bats and Balls Clinic" to encourage area youth to participate in baseball.
