Athletics Ranks Top Five Nationally in Community Service
April 24, 2018 | General, Beyond the Buzzer
The Cardinals totaled approximately 9,000 hours of community service during 2017-18.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville athletics department finished third in the 2018 NCAA Division I Team Works Helper Helper Community Service Competition for its community outreach efforts, it was announced.
Louisville, which has ranked in the top five in service for four-consecutive years, accrued approximately 9,000 hours of community service for the 2017-18 school year. The Cardinals had a 97 percent participation rate, with 656 student-athletes, including spirit group members, volunteering throughout the community.
NCAA Team Works, which coordinates community service efforts at NCAA championships, and Helper Helper, a volunteer management and tracking platform, launched the community service competition to recognize student-athletes who give back to their communities. The three-month competition ran from January through March with the winning schools' victories being decided based on the number of service hours completed and participation of student-athletes.
During the competition's three-month period, Louisville accumulated 3,350 service hours.
This is the fourth annual NCAA Team Works Helper Helper Community Service Competition award, with all Divisions I, II and III participating schools combining for 94,683 hours of community service in 3,300 opportunities. NCAA Team Works is proud to honor student-athletes who are making a difference in their communities, contributing to their overall student-athlete experience, well-being and success while in college and after graduation.
Louisville's athletics teams partnered with 193 nonprofit organizations over the course of the year, including hosting events with Girl Scouts, Girls on the Run, American Red Cross, American Heart Association, and Metro Parks Adaptive and Inclusive Recreation.
One of the biggest events was the partnership with the West End School, which is a free, private college preparatory elementary and middle school for at-risk young men. The SAAC started a pen pal program with the third- and fifth-grade classes. Student-athletes from 10 teams wrote monthly letters, culminating in an event where the students and student-athletes met each other and took part in interactive art-based projects.
Six Louisville men's teams and five women's teams finished in the top five in their respective sports for community service. Of that group, field hockey, women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and men's tennis each placed first.
Individually, 167 Louisville student-athletes contributed at least 15 hours over the course of the year. The Atlantic Coast Conference honored women's soccer's Kaela Dickerman, Tori Gabor, and Bailey Florek, women's track and field's Linda Mutter, and rowing's Maddie Luette and Margaret Geraghty with The Top Six for Service award, provided to student-athletes that have demonstrated outstanding community service and community relations.
Louisville was one of two Atlantic Coast Conference schools in the top five, with Miami winning the Division I competition.
