New Britain, CT -- Almost 350 student-athletes gathered on Friday morning, April 24th, at Arute Field on the campus of Central Connecticut State University to begin the Third Annual Day of Giving. Following lunch, the Blue Devils participated in a campus and local community clean up, helping to take care of and clean up the entire CCSU campus, as well as surrounding neighborhoods.
DAY OF GIVING PHOTO GALLERY
"Our Blue Devil Day of Giving has become a signature event for our student-athletes and staff on two meaningful fronts," Director of Athletics Paul Schlickmann said. "As a community service endeavor, this day is a collective effort on the part of our student-athletes and staff to demonstrate our commitment to a core mission of the University by giving back to our campus and to our neighbors. Our sport programs do an exceptional job throughout the year on various community engagement initiatives and will have tabulated close to 5,000 hours of community service by the end of this academic year."
Each team spent a few hours in separate areas on and off the CCSU campus, each with the same goal in mind: Give back to the CCSU and local community by helping to lend a hand with cleaning up. In all, the Blue Devils generated several dozen bags of garbage, including several bags from nearby Stanley Quarter Park.
"The other major theme of the Day of Giving and the build up to it, is to provide a greater understanding of, and emphasis on, developing a culture of giving amongst our student-athletes," Schlickmann added. "Our annual goal is to achieve 100% participation from our student-athletes to the Blue Devil Pride Fund. This year, all funds donated directly from Blue Devil student-athletes will be invested in the Academic Center for Student Athletes. I am very proud of the fact that our athletes devote so much of their time selflessly to better the community and believe enough in what we are doing to invest in their own cause."
The decision to use the funds for the Academic Center was made by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.