BATON ROUGE — For the first time in their collegiate careers, LSU track and field athletes Jeff Adolph and Lauren Saucier have been named to the Southeastern Conference Community Service Team as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
The duo has helped spearhead the efforts of the LSU track and field team with the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills Program that seeks to give student-athletes the chance to give back to Baton Rouge through their community service involvement.
Both have taken on a leadership role among LSU’s student-athletes as coordinators of the track and field station at this year’s Halloween BOOzar where team members handed out candy, played games and signed autographs for children. They then helped lead the team’s efforts during LSU’s annual Christmas Toy Drive in December while adopting an underprivileged child for the season.
In addition, both Adolph and Saucier have volunteered their time with Foundation 56 to bring the awareness of the fight against breast cancer to the Baton Rouge community.
Adolph’s community service also includes volunteering at “Battered Women’s Shelter” in Baton Rouge where he helped put on a Christmas party for those in the shelter this past year.
In addition to her work with Foundation 56, Saucier has volunteered with the Cancer Services “Awesome Autumn” program in which she spends time playing with children suffering from the disease. The Gonazales, La., native also volunteers her free time at local hospitals, assisting in the emergency room at Baton Rouge General Hospital and visiting the children’s ward at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.
While also serving as a motivational speaker, Saucier spoke to approximately 150 children at the YMCA about making smart choices, staying in school and working hard to achieve goals as part of the “I’m a Good Kid, Too!” Festival. She followed by working with “Hit the Books Running” while speaking to elementary school students about staying in school and going to college.
If that were not enough, Saucier spends much of her free time serving food to the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul near the LSU campus.