SAINTS PERFORM COMMUNITY SERVICE

June 9, 2009

BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel Softball players and coaches performed some community service by working with several local youths on Sunday, April 5th. The Saints used time in between games of their GNAC double-header with Lasell College to pass along some pointers to some young softball players from Mother Caroline Academy. Freshman pitcher Jesse Hutchins and Assistant Coach Katie Foley are pictured teaching basic pitching techniques to Jessica Juan-Aquino (left) and Malaysia Thomas (right). Both 8th graders are new to pitching and Hutchins and Foley put on a quick pitching clinic at Rotch Playground for the aspiring hurlers.

Mother Caroline Academy is located in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester, Mass. The school is part of the Nativity/San Miguel Network of schools. The Academy serves financially-limited middle school girls, who come from some of the underserved neighborhoods of Boston. Most of the students who attend Mother Caroline Academy are living in single-parent families, have parents working more than one job, or come from homes where English is not spoken or is spoken as a second language. These students are very academically motivated and the Academy catches them up on the skills, which they may have missed and advances them so they can matriculate in prep, private, independent, or public schools. Their school day is 8am-5pm, including a mandatory after-school activity. In this case, the students pictured had chosen softball as their after-school activity. The Emmanuel players were more than happy to provide some tips for the young girls to use on the diamond.

The Saints community outreach continued in April when the Emmanuel team visited the Smith Leadership Academy Charter School. Emmanuel Assistant Coach Howie Harrison serves as the Physical Education Coordinator at the school and invited the Saints to the school to conduct a clinic with some of the gym classes. Both the collegiate varsity players, as well as the charter school students benefitted from this rewarding experience.