Today: Nov 07, 2024

Student-athletes volunteer in New Haven

Aaron JohnsonSports Editor 

When the Tim Greer Insurance Agency, Inc. was first approached by Southern Connecticut State University and its athletic department about the idea of collaborating on a community service program for athletes, the opportunity seemed to be a win-win for both sides.

“Mike Kobylanski came to us about five years ago and really talked about the opportunities and it being a good fit for both the agency and Southern,” Tim Greer said. “It’s definitely exceeded my expectations. Mike and the athletic department have done a great job.”

Since its inception in 2008, the Tim Greer Insurance Agency, Inc. Community Service Cup program has provided a competitive format for Southern Connecticut State University student-athletes to volunteer in a number of different outreach programs, shelters, and community centers in both the Greater New Haven community and communities around the country. Southern student-athletes have volunteered nearly 20,000 hours through the Service Cup.

“Community service is very valuable and makes you well-rounded,” Greer said. “It always amazes me how well-rounded the student-athletes at Southern are. It gets better every year on all fronts.”

The partnership between the two began when Kobylanski and the rest of the athletic department pushed for an added emphasis on the community service that student-athletes at Southern performed.

“We made a decision to make a concerted effort to be more visible in the community both on-campus and in greater New Haven,” Kobylanski said. “As a result, we came up with the Community Service Cup.”

A scoring system was then developed to award points based on the percentage of each team’s roster that participates in an event.  At the end of each year, a team is recognized as the winner based on the system. Kobylanski said that the department wanted to use the Service Cup as a way to help integrate student-athletes into aiding the community.

“Our student-athletes and coaches have really bought into the program and responded by volunteering anywhere between 3,000-4,000 hours cumulatively annually,” he said.

Rotem Porat and Meagan Puccio of the Southern Connecticut State gymnastics team are examples of student-athletes that have bought into the Service Cup. Porat, a sophomore from Plantation, Fla., volunteered at the Camp Katina Cartwheels to Character program over the summer in her home state. While Puccio, a junior from Ridge, N.Y., participated in the Color Run 5K race to promote healthiness and happiness.

“I was an athlete at West Broward Gymnastics Academy since I was 12 and I’ve been volunteering there consistently every year since 2008,” Porat said. “As a past member and annual summer staff coach, I love working at a wonderful camp in my hometown gym and it’s so rewarding to volunteer at Camp Katina because the girls in the program get to experience how wonderful it is to do gymnastics. It’s a fun way for me to give back to the community.”

While Porat spent her summer giving back to the community in her hometown, Puccio was running for happiness in the Color Run.

“The event is supposed to be a fun way to be healthy and support a cause,” said Puccio.

Prior to her participation in the Color Run, Puccio was a part of a 5k walk to fight against heart disease last spring.

“I love doing them (charity runs),” she said. “Each event always had a positive energy and all the people there were friendly. It was a fun way to make a difference in people’s lives.”

The continued success of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency, Inc. Community Service Cup has created a strong partnership between the agency and Southern athletics that looks to continue on.

“We’ve had a good track record with Southern,” Greer said. “(We) couldn’t be more pleased with Mike Kobylanski and the rest of the athletic department at Southern.”

 

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