March 25, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas--As part of the Texas A&M student body, the Aggie football team and Aggie Athletes Involved (AAI) will take part in the Big Event on Saturday, Mar. 26. The Big Event, the largest one-day, student-run service project in the nation, is a way for Texas A&M University students to come together and say “Thank You” to the residents of the Bryan and College Station communities.
“I am so proud of our young student athletes who understand, and appreciate the support they receive from our local community,” Aggie Director of Athletics Bill Byrne said. “Many of our spring teams, all of whom are ranked in the nation's Top 25, are competing on Saturday, but those who can have signed up to help and to say thanks.”
Under the direction of Aggie head football coach Mike Sherman, the entire Texas A&M football team will work at Twin City Mission in Bryan after its Saturday morning practice.
“Coach Sherman and his wife Karen were very involved in the Green Bay community in helping with shelters and they have great compassion for the homeless,” Ron Crozier, Director of Community Relations with Twin City Mission, said. “Last fall, Coach Sherman approached us about the football team becoming more involved in helping with our mission of serving others. The team welcomed many of the young children out to practice. Then at Christmas time, the team provided gifts to many of the children at the end of one practice and then the players came to our facility throughout the next week to serve.”
Twin City Mission was founded in 1963 with a vision of reaching out to the homeless in the Bryan-College Station community. Crozier said there are four main programs which encompass the homeless and housing, domestic violence, youth and family as well as donation and resale services.
“Saturday our facility will get a facelift and benefit greatly from over 100 football players giving of their time and efforts to help and serve,” Crozier said. “The thing that really impresses me is the commitment from Coach Sherman and the team that this is not a one-day event with our organization, but an on-going relationship.”
Many of the other sports have signed up online to assist in other areas of the community and four Aggie student-athletes, football players Cody Beyer along with women's swimmer Liliana Ibanez and track and field thrower Nicholas Cook are participating in the Physics Festival tomorrow at the George P. Mitchell Physics Building.