MONTGOMERY – It’s finals week on campus, but in between the extra studying for tests and the actual taking of finals several team members and coaches of the Alabama State University football team found time to spread some Christmas Spirit among the community.
It all started with a 9:30 a.m. visit to Community Action of Montgomery where members of the coaching staff and team met with some families from the area. They presented gifts to each of the children in those families, along with gift cards from Wal Mart for Christmas dinner.
Interim Head Football Coach Antonio Bradford led the community give back effort and was happy the Hornets were able to be involved in such an endeavor.
“This is a huge deal,” Bradford said. “Once they named me interim head coach goals of mine were one, to make sure the students finished (the semester) strong; two was to continue to recruit and the third thing on the agenda was to give back. I told the guys that is what it is all about. I think God put us on this earth for a specific reason and that’s to help each other. So it means a lot for these guys and our staff to have a chance to go out and raise money and have a chance to help some families that are a little less fortunate than us.”
Following the presentation at Community Action of Montgomery, the day of giving back was not quite over. The team and coaches headed over to St. Jude to take gifts to the St. Jude Center for Disabled Children. Following that presentation they moved over one building and greeted seniors at the St. Jude Senior Citizens Center. There they passed out mini gift bags and also helped feed the seniors a Christmas meal from Jim & Nicks.
Senior Chris Terry has been around the team for a long time and has participated in several of the community activities the football team has taken on. He understands what it means not only for the team but for the community as well when they spend the time to give back.
“This means a lot for us as a team and as a university,” Terry said. “It’s always good to give back to the community and do for others, and not to get anything in return. It just feels good to give back. “They (children) looked excited, you know the little kids and the Christmas spirit is always a good site. I could feel the appreciation they had.”
