Baseball Lends Helping Hand Within Greenville Community
October 19, 2015 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Second-year head coach Cliff Godwin has made it a priority for his players to become well-rounded student-athletes on the field, in the classroom and community.
Over the last two weeks, the 2015-16 Pirates donated their time helping out with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, the "Good Samaritan 5K" and the Wintergreen Intermediate School.
"Our guys are very blessed to play baseball at one of the best universities in the country," Godwin said. "It is really important for us to give back to the Greenville community that does so much in support of our team. We also believe in helping people in our area who are less fortunate."
On Friday, Oct. 2 the Pirates visited the Food Bank helping sort and bag sweet potatoes for local soup kitchens, churches and homeless shelters in the area. During their two hours, they sorted over 6,000 pounds of sweet potatoes, which helped provide roughly 3,500 meals. The labor ECU donated was equivalent to $1,481.
While students of ECU used Fall Break to get away from the everyday grind of the school semester, the Pirate Baseball team spent two days (Oct. 12-13) working with the "Good Samaritan 5k" to benefit the Hope of Glory Ministries and speaking at the Wintergreen Intermediate School.
The Pirates helped direct traffic, set up and break down for the 5K. They also supported runners and helped with the timing of runners, which was held in uptown Greenville from 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
The team went out to the Wintergreen School on Oct. 13 for an hour to speak about making good decisions. Godwin, Joe Ingle and Evan Kruczynski got up in front of the group and spoke to all of the students before breaking out into groups to mentor them on a personal basis. After taking a group photo, the students huddled up with the Pirates and closed out the day with the "YES" chant.
