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Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the College Sports Communicators Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CollegeSportsCommunicators.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CSC member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Jeremy Rosenthal, University of Texas Associate Director of Communications, at
jeremy.rosenthal@athletics.utexas.edu.
The gift of volunteering
Michael Hawkins, Jay Stancil, Katie Gonzles, Douglas Monson and Emily Loux share how giving back to their communities has positively impacted their lives.
by Liz Wacienga – NCAA, Assistant Director, Media Coordination and Statistics / Goodwill & Wellness Committee member
Volunteer 15 is an initiative launched in 2014-15 to get College Sports Communicators members more involved in their communities. CSC members promote the great civic works done by their athletics teams but there is no promotion, or very little, about our members doing community service either with these teams or independently. CSC members are encouraged to volunteer at least 15 hours of community service each academic year, then submit your hours using the online form at CollegeSportsCommunicators.com/Volunteer15. CSC committee service hours from meetings and other activities can be submitted.
Last year, athletic communicators across the nation helped set a new record for #Volunteer15. A record-breaking 148 participants logged 12,892 hours throughout the 2021-22 academic year, marking the first time the membership eclipsed 12,000 hours in a single year! Perhaps the greatest achievement came in the winter season when the program hit 50,000 hours since its inception in 2014-15.
This month, I caught up with a few CSC members who did some incredible things in their community over the last year to see how it has impacted their lives and the magic question… how does an SID find the time?!
Please explain the volunteer work you’ve done in the last year. Is there a certain issue being addressed or a population that you are serving?
Michael Hawkins (Francis Marion University): I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Helping Florence Flourish, a faith-based organization that is “Working Toward A Visible Demonstration of the Unity of the Body of Christ to Bless Florence (S.C.).” I am also co-chairman of the Racial Bridging unit. In addition to racial bridging, the group focuses on the areas of education, homelessness, and restoration of the family, in addition to holding a monthly City Wide Prayer Gathering that alternates between white and black churches in the county. We also have an annual week-long event where we solicit projects from the community and then match volunteers to complete the projects.
Jay Stancil (Appalachian Athletic Conference): Some of the volunteering I do is SID-related. I served as the coordinator for the AP NAIA Football All-American team. This just falls back on my desire to honor and recognize the student-athlete. I also volunteered at races and at the nursing home where my wife works. I’ve longed volunteered at a nursing home, dating back to my high school days. The residents are often forgotten and love interaction with anyone. They simply want companionship. A lot of volunteering these days at the nursing home revolves around serving as the grill master for cookouts and helping with setting up for special events - like a truck or treat they had at Halloween. While it is easy to say I do this to help my wife out at work, I am passionate about volunteering at a nursing home especially since that is where my mom spent her last days at.
Katie Gonzales (Illinois Wesleyan University): Over the past year I have done a wide range of volunteer work. Within CSC I serve on the Academic All-America committee, the Diversity & Inclusion committee, and am also a member of D3SIDA in a liaison role. Additionally, I spent a lot of time volunteering with a residency program nearby. I've assisted in taking photos at their graduation, completing small video projects for some of their end-of-year activities, and even a bit of graphic design work. Residents often don't have much free time, let alone during daytime hours in the winter. So, last winter when we were hit by a pretty hefty snow storm, myself and the spouse of one of my wife's co-residents went around and shoveled driveways for a bunch of the residents. It was one heck of a workout but kept them from having to deal with it at the end of the day.
Douglas Monson (Stonehill College): Myself and some co-workers are prime examples of why it was appropriate for professional sports and NCAA Championships were suspended in March 2020. Our basketball teams both earned NCAA Division II Championships bids in 2020, and I had just checked into my hotel on Long Island for the women’s regional and was standing waiting for the elevator when the NCAA made its decision to cancel the championships. I would find out the next morning after driving back that I was an hour away from walking into a meeting with all eight participating coaches and administrators having COVID-19 and not knowing. Fast forward a couple of months and I figured I should put some good to being one of the early cases and signed up to be a convalescent plasma donor through the American Red Cross. I would do this once, sometimes twice a month, through the end of December, when I counted out on the number of donations I was allowed to give for a certain period of time. After my required six months off, I went back to donating the plasma, but eventually the Red Cross stopped taking convalescent plasma donations for COVID-19, but they had remarked at how high my platelet levels were (they had been taking those at the same time as plasma prior) and thus would call and ask me to keep donating platelets, so I did. I have continued to do so, having donated platelets seven times in 2022-23, most recently on January 9 after donating six times in 2021.
What have you learned most from your experiences volunteering? Have you learned anything about yourself?
Emily Loux (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference): Volunteering always has brought an immense sense of joy to me. It is one thing to be compensated for your time and energy, but there is a special feeling when you are giving of your time, energy and talents with only the satisfaction of what you’re doing in return. I’ve volunteered with Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, within my church to name a few. Each has provided a different experience, but what it has taught me about myself is that I love giving back. I know it sounds cliché, but it helps me to remember how lucky I am for what I have but also that I am able to give back when I can.
Gonzales: One of the things I think I often overlook is just how versatile our skill sets are as SIDs, and what that allows us to provide in terms of community service. Through my volunteer work, I've gained an appreciation for a wide range of what others do that I may not have fully grasped before, for which I am really grateful.
Monson: I’ve learned to overcome my fear of needles, that’s for sure! It was certainly a bit of mind over matter the first couple of times. I have never really been a big fan of needles, so this was why I had never donated blood or anything before my first plasma donation in 2020. One thing I think people aren’t aware of, is that they can’t freeze platelets, so they have to be used within five days, so you are having a fast impact on helping people in need.
Hawkins: That we still have a long way to go when it comes to racial bridging. We are all created in the image of God, and we are instructed to love our neighbor as thyself. If we followed these two verses, Dr. King’s dream would be fulfilled. We have made improvements, but we need to do more. We need to be better. The prayer gatherings have shown progress in this area, as at one event we had more than 30 churches represented and nearly equally divided along racial lines. Growing up in a white church in the South in the 1970s, let’s be honest, there was not a lot of mixing of the races in worship. I am unable to express the joy I feel when I experience that now. As the executive director of our organization always points out, there is only ONE church in Florence with 350+ congregations.
Are there any skills that you took from your experience that translated into the sports info setting or vice versa?
Loux: Some of the skills I learned from volunteering are listening to people and learning to work with different populations. While we are all humans, we require different ways of explaining tasks, languages, understanding you name it. For me, that translates well to dealing with diverse populations at work where I am expected to work with student-athletes, coaches and administrators.
Gonzales: I think the wide variety of skills that we build up within sports info provide a lot of different ways to give back. I've leaned on my graphic design and creative skillset specifically in various service opportunities.
Stancil: I think the wide variety of skills that we build up within sports info provide a lot of different ways to give back. I've leaned on my graphic design and creative skillset specifically in various service opportunities.
Hawkins: In college athletics, I deal with a diverse group of student-athletes and co-workers. My work with racial bridging makes me more aware of how to always include diversity in my work as a sports communicator. It has made me aware of how I must listen to learn. I don’t know how others feel. This is especially important, as my university is one of the more diverse schools in the country with a student body that is 52 percent white, 37 percent black, and 11 percent other. It is my duty to represent all these groups in my work.
Why do you feel it is important to volunteer? What are some of the benefits?
Hawkins: I have been blessed with a great family and profession. It is my duty to repay a portion to those that are in need, and to leave this world in better shape than when I arrived. I have been blessed through my family to have a perspective that some others don’t, and I want to use that advantage to improve all human relations.
Loux: I have been blessed with a great family and profession. It is my duty to repay a portion to those that are in need, and to leave this world in better shape than when I arrived. I have been blessed through my family to have a perspective that some others don’t, and I want to use that advantage to improve all human relations. I’ve always felt that volunteering actually helps my mental health. Knowing I am giving back in whatever way it may be boosts my energy, zest for life and excitement to hopefully do it again soon. When volunteering with Special Olympics, I realize how amazing those athletes are and how much they push me physically in each sport. I walk away tired but fulfilled! I tend to be someone that cries easily so I have been known to cry at the end of a volunteering session, but it is always happy tears knowing I made a difference.
Stancil: Volunteering is service, and serving others forces you to put others’ needs above your own. It provides you a different perspective of the world and sometimes shows you something you wouldn’t see otherwise. Volunteering, especially at the nursing home, really helps put things in perspective. It has helped somehow me that people and human connections are so much more important than any worldly item we could hope to obtain.
Gonzales: It is important because there are great organizations/communities that provide for people in many ways, so not only does volunteering allow us to help with various causes, but it also provides us an opportunity to help people and improve the community around us. Volunteering, while it can be exhausting at times (see: shoveling mounds of snow), is incredibly rewarding. I think that it betters my mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Monson: I think it’s always important to give back in anyway you are willing and able to depending on your circumstances. What are now regular donations of platelets for myself, stemmed from trying to make the best of my circumstances as a early stint with COVID in March 2020. So no matter how you choose to give back, you are hopefully helping someone in need who appreciates the time you are offering. Every donation of platelets is a 2-3 hour time commitment, which can be difficult to carve out, but it worth it in the end as it’s helping someone in need. I have to admit…. Getting the antibody test with the plasma donations were a selfish bonus to donating! It was interesting to learn I still carried antibodies for nearly a year until I had to stop donating because I clocked out so to speak. But it obviously feels good to know you are helping people fight cancer and making a difference in whatever life challenges those people are going through.
How does community service impact your life?
Loux: As a mom of two little kids, I am not able to volunteer nearly as much as I could, but I know that when I do, my kids see that and I am teaching them the importance of taking time out for others. When I am able to take the time to volunteer, I appreciate it more as there are many things that occupy my time these days so it’s more impactful to fill my time with volunteer activities.
Gonzales: It has a sort of grounding effect on me I guess. It has brought me new friends and helped me build a strong community. Community service is a great reminder to make time for what is important to you. I think it is also a good reminder of all the different things we do as SIDs and how they translate to things outside of college athletics.
Monson: Each platelet donation is a 2-3 hour process (Plasma was roughly an hour). While you can donate platelets once a week, I TRY to donate once a month. That said, our school has been going through a transition to Division I since last January, so I wasn’t able to go during the fall due to the busy schedule. I last went in early January, and I am trying to get back to a roughly monthly schedule. But other than time, I really don’t feel like it impacts my life at all in a negative way. On a positive note, it’s certainly a boost to give back in any way I am able as much as I can. It all seems small in comparison to what people battling cancer or whoever needs the platelets are going through. It’s definitely a small sacrifice.
It’s no secret that SIDs have a lot on their plate. How do you find the time and motivation to volunteer?
Hawkins: This is probably the toughest issue to tackle. It has gotten easier for me in that my wife and I are now empty nesters and I have more available time. Our two children both played sports, so that took up a lot of my free time as they grew up, and now we have grandkids that we want to visit. However, in the day-to-day schedule there are a few more hours that are freed up to volunteer. You have to make time for what is important.
Stancil: As for my motivation, I love helping others. You just make time. You make time for the things that are important.
Gonzales: Community service isn't something we just talk about at IWU, but it is something that we all actively do. I have an incredibly supportive administration that not only offers volunteer opportunities through various partnerships, but also encourages us to pursue one's outside of those. As for the motivation, I think giving back to different organizations/communities that are important to us doesn't really require much motivation. It just comes down to kindness and leaving things in a better place in whatever way you can.
Monson: It’s certainly not easy to find the time. In some ways, it’s a good break from the stress of the job. I can’t answer my phone while I am hooked up with both arms, so it’s a period of time where I can sort of detach from the electronic world (while watching some Netflix) and take my mind off work. I usually go on Monday’s now, which due to the Division I schedule is usually a lighter day without meetings, etc. As for motivation? There is someone out there having a much worse day than me that really needs this donation. What more motivation could you need when it really comes down to it.
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