FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- March 23, 2004
CONTACT: Jason Mucher, Director of Athletic Communications (585) 567-9648

ATHLETES GET DOWN AND DIRTY TO SERVE

HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Close to 50 Houghton College athletes joined with their fellow students to help a number of Western New York organizations during the college’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day on Saturday, March 20.

Members of the women’s soccer, volleyball, and track and field teams served at three different locations, while several other athletes assisted at other sites in Buffalo, Rochester, and Allegany County.

“Whenever I go on a service project, I leave feeling so good about what God’s done through me and how it will help others and make them happy, even if it’s just a new paint job in their recreation room,” said Lydia Rahill, a freshman volleyball player from Hanau, Germany, who joined eight of her teammates and both of her coaches to help clean the Southern Tier Youth For Christ building in Wellsville. “The benefits for me personally are just the satisfaction of a job well done and knowing I have blessed others through my work.

“Service isn’t always fun, but it doesn’t have to be. Most of the time it can be tiring, but that’s what makes it so worth it in the end. I leave knowing I’ve put my all into it. I really enjoyed Saturday. It was fun to do something with my team other than play our sport, and it was great to just serve God in another way.”

Eleven women’s soccer players tackled a variety of tasks – installing insulation, painting, and cleaning – at Camp Cherith, a youth camp in Hunt. “We wanted to be able to reach outside the confines of our team and Houghton and be able to serve someone else,” said Becca Fuller, a junior goalkeeper from Houghton.

Their day’s work did not go unnoticed. “We never know what part we play in God’s plan, but I am sure that the service given by these Houghton people will not only affect the campers and staff this summer, but it also gives us all an appreciation of how wonderful it is to have the privilege of serving God,” commented one camp staff member. “We sometimes find ourselves short on volunteers, so their loving contribution was a very great blessing to us. We pray that this may become a yearly event for us both.”

Head coach Bob Smalley and 15 of his track and field athletes helped clean the facilities of The Repo Company, a Christian service organization for teens, in Amherst. “It was a great opportunity to serve those who serve,” said Smalley. “It was also a chance to work together as a team on something that is not directly related to our sport.”

Close to 400 Houghton students, faculty, and staff were involved in Service Day 2004, which has become an annual tradition on the campus of 1,200 students.

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