For many student athletes in the WW-P school district, balancing school, practice, games, and other responsibilities leaves little time to join other clubs and extra curricular activities after school.
But one organization has allowed student-athletes to give back to the community and be part of an organization outside of sports.
Now in its third year, Athletes for Action at Community Middle School has allowed students to participate in a range of activities, from mentoring other children in sports to collecting donations for underprivileged sports programs. About 80 students participate.
Some of the group’s members will be working at the opening of the West Windsor Farmers’ Market, on Saturday, May 7, when they will collect used sporting equipment to donate to HomeFront in Trenton.
Last year student-athletes filled three truckloads of sporting equipment to donate to HomeFront, says Dawn O’Brien, the fundraising vice president for Community’s PTA organization. “They use the equipment at their Lawrence recreation center,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to have equipment they wouldn’t otherwise have had.”
O’Brien, who served as the vice president of the PTA for two years, helped initiate the Athletes for Action to help students who wanted to get involved.
“Kids who were trying to participate in sports at school were running into conflicts to be part of some of the clubs,” she said. “To go to the meetings for the clubs, they would have to miss practice, or vice versa.”
Among the many opportunities for students who sign up to participate in Athletes for Action activities is a sneaker drive. Students collect sneakers and donate them to Nike, which grinds them up and uses them in material for construction of new playgrounds, said O’Brien. Participants in Athletes for Action can sign up for whichever cause interests them.
“It’s really as much or as little as they have time to give,” said O’Brien. “The main message we’re trying to get out to kids is that you can be involved in multiple activities; it’s all about how you package it. If you’re an athlete, it doesn’t mean you can’t do community service.”
Student-athletes also participated in a letter-writing campaign to the troops, a glove and scarf drive around the holidays, a collection for the food pantry, and the “Princeton Buddies” program, in which they are paired with children from various schools in Mercer County to help develop their sports skills. There are three sessions — a soccer session in the fall, a basketball session in the winter, and a baseball session in the spring. Students dedicate their Sundays to helping their “buddies.”
Dan Browndorf, 12, a sixth grader at Community, said he joined Athletes for Action this year and participated in the basketball session. “We worked on the basics,” he said. “We shoot around for fun, and we work on their dribbling and passing.” They also get to scrimmage against each other to practice using their new skills.
“I thought it would be fun because when they leave, I know they’ve had a good time, and that I’ve made an impact on their day,” said Browndorf.
Browndorf, who also began the baseball “buddies” session this month, is a lifelong West Windsor resident. His parents work in the clothing industry. He says baseball and basketball are his favorite sports and that he enjoys teaching them to others.
In the baseball “buddies” session, he has helped children work on their swings and on fielding. But he says he also feels it’s important for students to have the necessary equipment to play.
At the farmers’ market on Saturday, May 7, the athletes will be collecting gently-used cleats and equipment for baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, and basketball.
“If they don’t have the equipment, they won’t learn the right way to play,” he said. “With the right equipment, they can experience how to really play the game.”
Ryan Strype, 11, also a sixth grader at Community and a member of Athletes for Action, participated in the basketball session and is looking to also help out at the collection.
Strype, a lifelong West Windsor resident whose father is an accountant, said he joined Athletes for Action after his sister did so when she was in middle school.
“Since I’ve always played basketball, I wanted to help other people play basketball and have fun,” he said. He said he will most likely stick with the program throughout middle school. He encourages other students to join.
“It’s a lot of fun, and you get to meet so many new people, and you get to help them,” he said.
Other Environmental Initiatives. The Athletes for Action are just one of the groups involved in this year’s slate of sustainable events organized by the Greening of West Windsor, a group founded three years ago by volunteers living within in the township.
The group has organized two environmental fairs that drew more than 2,000 visitors each time. GroWW also organized its first garden tour last summer that highlighted private gardens and public green spaces in West Windsor.
Leading up to the second garden tour in June, the group has set up two months of weekend environmental events beginning on Saturday, April 30, with an Arbor Day event at Ron Rogers Arboretum, at the corner of Route 571 and Clarksville Road, at 10 a.m. See story on page 23.
The theme for the two-month schedule of events is “Springtime Saturdays: Spring Cleaning to Spring Blooms.”
The biggest day of events is scheduled for Saturday, May 7, the opening day for the Farmers Market at the Princeton Junction train station. GroWW has coordinated three activities to coincide with the grand opening.
Proceeds from the GroWW Herb Sale fundraiser will support GroWW initiatives and be used to purchase seasonal flowers for the beds at the West Windsor Arts Center.
Also on May 7, the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance (WWBPA) will stop at the GroWW Herb Sale as part of its second annual community walk to the West Windsor Farmers Market. Participants will gather in the parking lot of Maurice Hawk Elementary School before 9:30 a.m. for a walk to the Vaughn Drive parking lot.
In addition to the Athletes for Action, who will be on hand on opening day at the Farmers Market, other students will also help. GroWW students will be collecting rechargeable batteries and cell phones for recycling. Among the items being collected are Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd); Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH); Lithium Ion (Li-ion); Nickel Zinc (Ni-Zn); and Small Sealed Lead (Pb) rechargeable batteries. All types of cell phones will be collected.
In addition to the May 7 event, there is a schedule of events for each of the following Saturdays in May and June through Saturday, June 25, coordinated with other community organizations. On each of those Saturdays is a Farmers’ Market.
On Saturday, May 14, the Friends of West Windsor Open Space will organize a walk on Zaitz trails, beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Southfield Road. Then on Saturday, May 21, the West Windsor Arts Council will have a tent for children’s activities at the farmers’ market, while the WWBPA will hold a Learn to Bike event.
West Windsor BikeFest at Community Park will be held on Saturday, May 28, from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. GroWW Terracycle collection will take place at the BikeFest event.
On Saturday, June 4, the GroWW tent will have an alternative fuels car display at the farmers’ market.
West Windsor will also hold its Public Works Dumpster Drop-off Day for all recycling and yard debris from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The film “Crude: The Real Price of Oil” will be aired at the West Windsor Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. The event is hosted by the West Windsor Library and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
GroWW will have children’s activities at the farmers’ market on Saturday, June 11, and on Saturday, June 18, there will be Nature Story Time art and reading activities at the West Windsor library from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Finally, on Saturday, June 25, the GroWW Garden Tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and an Arts Center gallery reception, “Gardens, Landscapes, and the Great Outdoors,” will run at the same time.
