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WILDCATS IN THE COMMUNITY
St. Thomas of Villanova Celebration Day of Service, September 19, 2009. In conjunction with the Villanova University Community Villanova Athletic teams went out into the surrounding communities of Villanova to participate in an annual day of service. Over 3000 Villanova University Faculty, Staff and Students participated in the event. The Villanova Athletic Department had over 300 volunteers, including staff, coaches and student-athletes. This year's service projects included:
Women's Rowing- Volunteered at Cardinal Dougherty High School
Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving- Fairmount Park Bocce Woods-clean-up of woods, planting new tree's and plants
Women's Basketball- Clean-up of St. Rita's Parish on South Broad Street
Women's Water Polo- Clean-up and planting tree's at the local Urban Tree Connections
Men's and Women's Track and Field-volunteered at Radnor Historical Society
Cheerleading-Volunteered at Mother Cabrini Nursing Home
Field Hockey-YMCA Northeast Family
Women's Soccer- helped to tear down a local house set to be re-built
Women's Lacrosse-volunteered at the Ridley Park Methodist Church
Men's Basketball-volunteered at the Restoration Temple in Philadelphia
Baseball-Clean up of Plymouth Meeting Park
Women's Cross Country- clean-up of the Abington YMCA
Men's Lacrosse- helped with the actual Day of Service set-up in the Pavillion
The Men's Lacrosse Team volunteered at the Annual Buddy Walk held on the campus of Villanova. The Buddy Walk was held on October 4, 2009 and the Men's Lacrosse Team played an integral part with our facilities department in the set-up of the event.
Men's Lacrosse played in the 3rd Annual Nick Colleluori Classic on October 10, 2009. The HEADstrong Foundation hosts this annual tournament in an effort to raise awareness and money to go toward blood cancer research. All proceeds from the tournament go to research for a cure for blood cancer.
Villanova Men's Lacrosse
Pen-Pals- 2009-2010-The Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) will partner with Alice Costello Elementary School in Gloucester, New Jersey for a pen-pal program.
Each spring, the Villanova Football Team hosts an annual Bone Marrow Testing Drive titled "Get in the Game and Save a Life.
Head Coach Andy Talley and the team have been associated with the Bone Marrow Testing Drive for the past 17 years. Over the past decade Villanova Football has registered over 4,000 people to the National Bone Marrow Registry. Coach Talley hopes to have over 60 Athletic Departments across the nation host bone marrow testing drives in the spring of 2010.
The Villanova Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will partner with the CYO Program of Mother of Divine Providence in King of Prussia, PA. To date, Women's Basketball, Men's Soccer, Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse, Baseball and Softball have sent representatives to a one night a month clinic where the Villanova student-athletes have coached the young children as well as passed on leadership experience.
Special Olympics-The campus of Villanova University will host its 21st Annual Fall Special Olympics Festival, November 6-9, 2009. Each year, Villanova has over 3,000 volunteers including various athletic department teams.
Villanova Volleyball Player Morgan Petkovich at the 2008 Special Olympics
Each holiday season, the Villanova Athletic Dept., the SAAC program and its student-athletes have participated in Thanksgiving and Christmas food drives as well as the Adopt-a-Family program.
The Villanova Volleyball Team held its annual Dig for the Cure Breast Cancer Awareness Game when they took on Delaware on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. All proceeds from the event will go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
The Villanova Women's Basketball Team has participated for the past several years with the Coach Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. The team has worn pink in remembrance and for awareness of Breast Cancer Patients and Research. This year's Pink Zone day will be February 13, 2010 when Villanova Women's Basketball will take on the Lady Scarlett Knights of Rutgers in a Big East match-up.
This September, 2009, the Women's Soccer team has partnered with the Friends of Jaclyn program to adopt a local girl who is battling a brain tumor. The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation is a charitable organization designed to help local children battling brain tumors to be partnered with local high school and collegiate athletic teams. The program is designed to provide love, support and friendship between the children and the student-athletes.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Council along with the Villanova Athletic Department hosts its annual Running with the Wildcats 5K event each April. The proceeds of the event go to the each one counts foundation which helps to ease the pain and suffering of terminally ill children.
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