BATON ROUGE — Members of the LSU swimming and gymnastics teams helped restore a local house in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
Through the efforts of LSU’s Community Service Partnership and the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program, swimmers Shanna Spears and Kyra Jones and gymnasts Ericka Garcia, Janelle Garcia and Sidney Sanabria-Robles spent a few hours painting the residence.
“It was a lot of fun coming out and painting,” Spears said. “It’s nice to be able to give back to the community that has given so much to us.”
The Community Service Partnership has promoted civic engagement and developed new strategies to accommodate the changing demographics of the Baton Rouge community since 2001. In addition, the organization partners with campus and community groups to coordinate community service projects.
LSU athletics launched its new community service initiative, the Geaux Givers, to brand all community service efforts from the CHAMPS/Life Skills unit in September 2010.
During the 2009-10 academic year, LSU athletics completed an impressive 2,648.5 hours of community service. The 2,648.5 hours are the equivalent of 110 days of community service.