Bates Bobcats support food bank
The Bates women’s soccer and field hockey teams combined efforts recently to inspect and sort nearly 5000 lbs. of food, equating to 4,000 meals for Maine families, for the Good Shepherd Food Bank. They also packaged 640 Senior Brown Bags destined for 320 senior citizen households.
Both teams began their relationship with the food bank in the spring of 2014 as a way to better serve the Lewiston-Auburn community. “Community engagement is two-fold for Bates women’s soccer,” said head coach Kelsy Ross. “It provides our student-athletes with an opportunity to take pause and look at the ‘bigger picture’ while working together in a non-soccer environment to build team chemistry.”
Bates field hockey head coach Dani Ryder was happy to have her team help in any way possible. “This was a wonderful opportunity for the women’s soccer and field hockey teams to work together with a great local organization,” Ryder said. “In helping families across all 16 counties in Maine, the Good Shepherd Food Bank has an incredibly large task.”
As the largest food distributor in the state, GSFB delivers 17.5 million meals a year to those in need. The organization is also leading a statewide effort to combat the root causes of hunger by engaging in advocacy, nutrition education and strategic partnerships. For more information about the Good Shepherd Food Bank or how you can help, see www.gsfb.org.