BATON ROUGE – The LSU football team took time after Wednesday’s practice to put smiles on the faces of a group of nine mentally challenged men.
The players signed autographs and took pictures with the group from the John Eskew Training Center, a facility located in Alexandria that allows mentally challenged adults to perform jobs in the community.
The trip to LSU was coordinated by Cenla Focus Magazine, which is doing a story on LSU student-athletes giving back to the community. The article will appear in the magazine’s September issue.
“All of these guys are huge LSU fans,” said Dan Diefenderfer, an account executive for the magazine and brother of one of the men. “It is so emotionally charged for them. It means so much to be able to do something like this. Moments like these are special for the rest of their lives.”
In addition to meeting the team, the contingent also had the opportunity to tour the locker room and weight facility inside Tiger Stadium.
“It feels good just to make their day a little bit better,” said freshman defensive end Barkevious Mingo. “I am sure it means a lot to these guys to come out and meet the players of their favorite team.”
The visit to campus highlights an exciting month for the group, as the guys also visited the New Orleans Saints last week.
“There is an old saying that everyone is not able,” senior offensive tackle Joseph Barksdale said. “When we have the opportunity to brighten people’s day, we will definitely take the 10 or 15 minutes out of our time to make somebody else feel special.”