College Football News – Guilford Gridders Complete Over 1,000 Hours of Volunteer Service

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The final tally is in and Guilford College’s football team has compiled over 1,000 hours of community service over the 2012-13 academic year. With 1,001.5 hours, the Quakers fulfilled head coach Chris Rusiewicz’s second-year goal of 1,000 volunteer hours for his team. In 2011-12, Rusiewicz’s first year, Guilford collected 901 hours of community service.

“It’s great to see our guys willing and able to do what it takes to give back to the community,” Rusiewicz said. “Getting out like this stretches them in a positive way and helps them realize how fortunate they are to attend college and play the game they love. I’m really proud of their effort.”

Football team members worked at 12 different venues throughout the year. Some projects, like helping to move fellow students into their dorms last August, involved the whole team. Other projects were more individual in nature. Estavio Jones, Daytwyn Rascoe and Jakob Sayer each spent time individually tutoring elementary-school children. Jones joined teammates Tyler Campbell and Drew Milot on a Guilford-sponsored work trip over spring break with members of the Friends Disaster Relief Service.

For the second straight year, members of the Quakers spent time at nearby Guilford Middle School working with the students in various capacities. Team members visited twice a week and each player was paired with a student. During their 90 minutes together, the football players helped the middle-schoolers with assignments and reading, but also found time to have some fun, playing basketball and other games as a group.

In Rusiewicz’s first two years at Guilford, the Quakers have contributed over 1,900 hours to the Greensboro community. He opens his third season Sept. 7 when Guilford visits Greensboro College in the annual Gate City Soup Bowl game. Now in its 17th year, the Soup Bowl has developed into an important community service project as fans and students from both schools conduct canned-good drives in conjunction with the game.