The Big Buddy Program hosted the first “Evening of Champions” dinner Tuesday at the LSU Lod Cook Alumni Center and gave athletes the opportunity to share a positive message with underprivileged kids from age seven to 13. “Evening of Champions” is an event formed by the Connectors Bayou, a group of University public relations seniors, that allowed athletes from every sport to participate in sending kids a positive message about the importance of academics, teamwork and community service.  LSU senior pitcher Louis Coleman said kids look up to athletes, and the baseball team has made volunteering a big part of its goal to be successful this year.”To be able to go out and make kids feel loved is a great feeling,” Coleman said.  Coleman said when coach Paul Mainieri came to LSU, he wanted to make sure the team would play a big part in volunteering and giving back to the community. Jade Jenkins, assistant director of Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills Program, said it’s very important for athletes to volunteer in Baton Rouge.”The city really supports LSU and the sports teams here, so anytime athletes have a chance to give back to the community, it’s a great opportunity because of how much support they’re given on the court or field,” Jenkins said. Jenkins said the mission of CHAMPS — Challenging Athletes’ Minds for Personal Success — is to help athletes become “as well-rounded as possible.”The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is the governing body of student-athletes and contains a few members of each athletic team. Every Southeastern Conference school has a committee to represent its school, Jenkins said.”SAAC has the opportunity to create new events and lead their teams to new ways of volunteering,” Jenkins said.Jenkins said SAAC came up with the idea that each month, one team would go to the Our Lady of the Lake’s children’s ward.LSU junior running back Charles Scott said it’s a rewarding experience to go to the Our Lady of the Lake hospital and visit with the children. “Anytime you can make somebody’s day better when someone is sick and just put a smile on someone’s face, that makes a big difference,” Scott said.Jenkins said the athletes hand out stickers and temporary tattoos to the children, and it’s nice to cheer them up and see them smile.LSU gymnast Susan Jackson, the 2008 NCAA vault national champion and SAAC member, said the gymnastics team’s favorite trip is to the children’s ward to talk to the kids and let them know people out there care.  “If we can make a child’s day better by just being there for them, then that is the coolest thing,” Jackson said.LSU junior soccer defender and SAAC member Chelsea Potts said the Christmas Toy Drive is one of her favorite events during the year and a great experience for all the athletes.Jenkins said the Christmas Toy Drive is a great team-building experience in which each team adopts an under-privileged child from Catholic Services.  “The athletes find creative ways to raise money for the young children who would otherwise not have any Christmas at all,” Jenkins said.  The gymnastics team has a bake sale to raise money for its child, and the women’s golf team will go out on the golf course to help collect money, Jenkins said.”The football team takes a few dollars out of everyone’s meal money and the coach [Les Miles] will match that amount for the toy drive,” Jenkins said. Jenkins said the soccer team won the CHAMPS community service award last year and tallied the most hours in the community.”Every year, the involvement in the community has grown,” Jenkins said. “This year, baseball has been strong and has already logged in over 300 hours.” Potts said the reason its team was so successful with its volunteer hours is because the soccer team had a friendly competition over who could get the most hours.”We split our team, and we made it a contest because it was a great way for team bonding,” Potts said. “It was a lot of fun for all of us to give back to the community.”Potts said working at the homeless shelters and seeing how hard life is for other people makes the players better individuals and thankful for all the blessings they have at LSU.Jackson said it’s important for athletes to be humbled and not take anything for granted.”Its good to get out and see how other people live,” Jackson said. “We realize how good we really have it here.” —-Contact Tiffany Tucker at [email protected]