Central Michigan University Athletics
Football Presents Donation to Local Charity
5/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 30, 2014
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Lending a hand, and maybe learning a lesson.
That's the message Central Michigan football coach Dan Enos is hoping hits home with his players, who on Wednesday made a donation to the CCN Community Food Pantry in Mount Pleasant.
"Part of the development for all these young men is learning to give and to appreciate the things that they have, and not to take things for granted," said Enos, who, along with assistant coach Ben Presnell and about a dozen players presented a check for more than $1,100 to food pantry interim director Faye Schaffer and volunteer daily manager Carole Ford at the pantry just west of the CMU campus on Broomfield Road.
"When I spoke to our team about this," Enos said, "We talked about the need, that people are hungry and here we are, Division I athletes, and we've got meals, we've dorm food, we've got Muscle Milk, we've got all sorts of things at our fingertips all the time. There are people out there who don't have, and they go without."
It doesn't end with a monetary donation. The Chippewas will lend a hand on Saturday in helping to pack and load boxes for food pantry guests.
"We're extremely appreciative," said Schaeffer, who has been on the CCN Community Food Pantry board of directors since 2011 and has served as its interim director for 18 months. "We love working with the CMU students. We often have a hundred volunteers or more at our mobile pantries.
"This money is going to pay for half a mobile truck of food on Saturday. That's just fabulous that 200 families are going to be fed because of the dimes and dollars that they were willing to contribute."
The players donated money from their own pockets, and their total was matched in a personal donation by Enos, who is entering his fifth season as the Chippewas' coach.
For Enos, and some of his players, it's personal.
"There are a lot of people out there in need, from a lot of different backgrounds, and I know there are a lot of these players who went without when they were growing up," Enos said. "Some of their parents maybe still do, and some of their family members maybe still do.
"They took money out of their own pockets, college student-athletes, who may not have money, and donated it. We've got young men in our program who are good people and they've got great character and they're very interested in doing anything they can to give back.
"These are good young men and they do so much good in the community that people don't ever know about. It's just one small example of things that not only our players do, but the student-athletes at Central Michigan do in general."
Schaeffer said she was grateful for the donation, but also for the commitment of the student-athletes to roll up their sleeves and perform the work.
"That's equally important, and I'm just glad that it can be seen by the community," she said. "It's special."
A meeting between Enos, Schaeffer and Ford got the ball rolling, and Schaeffer pointed to the head coach as a great example in leading the student-athletes and teaching them that what they do runs deeper than on-field performance.
"It is a great example," she said. "Coach Enos mentioned when we first made contact with the team how some of his players and their families had benefitted from programs like this where they grew up.
"And some of that support made it possible for them to be here at CMU and on the team, and I just think that's really great. Whether they were in that situation or not, it's a very easy thing to relate to."
