Ohio State University and LSU will clash heads in the BCS Championship Game Monday night. But Sunday morning the dueling schools partnered to help the NFL Yet Boys and Girls Club New Orleans.
About 400 LSU and OSU students, faculty, staff, alumni and football players rebuilt two baseball fields, repaired bleachers, repainted the pool house and made blankets for the homeless.
“It was crazy to see all of that happen in such a short period of time,” said Kyle Homan, political science and animal, dairy, and poultry sciences senior and Volunteer LSU director.
Jessica Tejada, program director at Boys and Girls Club in New Orleans, said having the fields completed in one day was amazing because a project of that magnitude would normally take a few weeks.
OSU developed the project idea and contacted LSU before finals week. Volunteer LSU, a student organization dedicated to community service, undertook the project and organized LSU’s efforts in it.
“It was a great feeling to see OSU and LSU working together … it was a unique experience,” said Claire Reuter, biochemistry senior and Volunteer LSU coordinator.
Reuter said jokes were exchanged between the two universities about Monday’s game, but it was all in good fun. She said people traded cheers and took opportunities to showcase their universities.
Tejada said the children of the Boys and Girls Club will financially benefit from the services LSU and OSU provided to the facilities and the Boys and Girls Club.
“I would like to thank Ohio State and LSU for doing this service project because without them, we wouldn’t have these fields. Two thumbs up for both schools,” Tejada said.
Tejada also said the service project gives neighborhood children “another hope that New Orleans is coming back and that people are out there.”
Michael Scott, communication studies senior, volunteered in the service project. Scott said because he played baseball in high school, he thought it would be good to help build baseball fields for inner-city children. He said participating in this event rekindled his passion for service work.
Volunteer LSU said LSU and OSU were pleased with the outcome of the project and the fact that they were able to do so much for the Boys and Girls Club.
“To help build something that will stay after Monday – after the game – I think is a wonderful feeling,” Reuter said.
—–Contact Allen Womble at [email protected]