BATON ROUGE – Perhaps inspired by the spirit of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, members of the LSU Soccer program spent their break from class on Monday by serving the community of Baton Rouge as part of three different community service projects around the city in conjunction with Geaux Givers and the Shaquille O’Neal Life Skills Program.
Thirteen Tigers in all took part in LSU’s day of service alongside other LSU sports teams at the “Painting the Pillars” project under the Mississippi River bridge near downtown Baton Rouge, an outreach project with kids in the Gardere neighborhood South of campus and a restoration project at the Baton Rouge Center of Visual & Performing Arts with the Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
The “Painting the Pillars” project was a community art project implemented by Mayor-President Kip Holden and performed in conjunction with other such local non-profit groups as City Year Baton Rouge.
Among the Tigers taking to the streets to paint the interstate pillars under the Mississippi River bridge was junior Lexi Gibbs, sophomore Summer Clarke and freshmen Jordane Carvery, Alexis Urch and Ella Williams.
“This is one of the most exciting community service projects we’ve been a part of so far,” Gibbs said. “We really enjoyed being able to be a part of something that everyone who drives by this area can see. That’s what made this project so neat and different was that were able to see what the finished job looked like firsthand, and had a great time helping to make that happen and bringing this area to life.”
Among the Tiger standouts spending their holiday with kids in the Gardere neighborhood were senior Alex Arlitt; juniors Natalia Gomez-Junco, Heather Magee and Emma Meckfessel; and freshmen Jorian Baucom and Christyna Pitre. As part of their initiative, they played games with the kids while also making picture collages of Martin Luther King, Jr., dream catchers and other crafts in celebration of the holiday’s namesake.
“We love getting out in the community and giving back to others, especially the kids,” Arlitt said. “Being involved in community service activities is something that is very important to our team, and we just look forward to every opportunity we have to do good for others and maybe brighten their day a little bit. Today was no different getting to spend time with the kids over at Gardere.
“The kids really enjoy having us there, even if all we’re doing is making some crafts. Even kids who might be shy love it when we just talk to them. Hopefully, it’s something they’ll remember for a long time.”
LSU’s goalkeeping duo of sophomore Morgan Ruhl and freshman Lily Alfeld also spent their time Monday helping to clean up and restore the local Baton Rouge Center of Visual & Performing Arts in a project organized by LSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council. It proved to be a productive afternoon for SAAC members spent at the center’s campus location on South Acadian Thruway.