University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Baseball Players Reach Out To Community
December 13, 2002 | Baseball
Dec. 13, 2002
For years, the Carolina baseball team has played an integral role in keeping alive the important University of North Carolina tradition of student-athletes giving back to the local community.
Carolina Outreach, a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference Outreach Program, is an organization of Tar Heel athletes dedicated to improving the lives of the residents of the town of Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina.
Each year, the entire baseball team participates in a number of community service activities, including the Juvenile Diabetes Walk-A-Thon, a Read-A-Thon at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, visits to the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill, the UNC Dance Marathon and a Sunday afternoon playday at the orphanage in Oxford. Outreach is also involved in the Reading Is Fundamental program at local elementary and high schools. This year, members of the team made weekly visits to Seawell Elementary School in North Chapel Hill.
"Coming out to the community is a great way to reach out and try to touch kids lives," said junior first baseman Jeremy Cleveland. "It's a lot of fun. It's cool to be a part of something like this - maybe you help the kid out in a subject, or maybe you just made him feel a lot better for that day that you were here. They look up to us, and it makes us realize we are a role model in some ways."
Both the local elementary school students and teachers alike cherish the time the team spends in the classroom. Children are given the opportunity to improve their skills while interacting with student-athletes, allowing for a mutual beneficial relationship.
"I think it's important for us as student-athletes at Carolina to realize how big an impact we can have in this community," said junior pitcher Daniel Moore. "Going to Seawell and reading with local kids is just one of the many things we do to stay involved. I don't think there's anything like the look you see on a small child's face when we take just a few minutes to read them a story or help them with a project. It's something that teaches us to not take the gifts we have and the opportunities we are provided at UNC for granted."
The baseball team is also one of the many University athletic teams that makes weekly visits to the Pediatric Playroom at UNC Hospitals during the season.
During the 2002 holiday season, the baseball team was one of UNC's 28 varsity teams to participate in a program called "Share Your Christmas." This helps provide less fortunate families with Christmas presents they could otherwise not afford. The program benefited between three and four thousand Durham County residents this year.
Check out the photo gallery for pictures of the team in the local community.
