IWU Football Players and Coaches Help Spruce Up Downtown Share

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A sig­nif­i­cant area of Down­town Mar­i­on is much clean­er and attrac­tive, thanks to Indi­ana Wes­leyan University’s new foot­ball team.

65 play­ers and 15 coach­es, 80 in all, paint­ed curbs, pulled weeds, and picked up debris around the Cour­t­house Square and sev­er­al sur­round­ing blocks. The spe­cif­ic project was iden­ti­fied and direct­ed by City­wide Main­te­nance Direc­tor, James Loftis.

“Their ini­ti­a­tion and devo­tion to this project saved me at least 40 hours of man hours, and that’s espe­cial­ly impor­tant since this depart­ment is under-staffed. A mil­lion thanks go out to the foot­ball team and coach­es. They were a huge help,” said Loftis.

IWU’s Head Foot­ball Coach Jor­dan Langs explained as they build their foot­ball pro­gram, it is impor­tant that they demon­strate to the play­ers the val­ue of serv­ing oth­ers. ​“We try and teach our kids that in order to make an impact in your com­mu­ni­ty or in the lives of peo­ple in gen­er­al, peo­ple must mat­ter to you. We want to con­stant­ly live inside our best every sin­gle day, whether that is on the foot­ball field or in the com­mu­ni­ty. The ser­vice project this week­end was our first attempt to show the peo­ple of Mar­i­on and Grant Coun­ty that they are impor­tant to us. The poten­tial impact of this Foot­ball pro­gram is huge, and we want to make sure that the peo­ple of Grant Coun­ty feel includ­ed in the build­ing a foun­da­tion of excel­lence for IWU Foot­ball. We look for­ward to serv­ing as many peo­ple as we can in Grant Coun­ty, but also for the res­i­dents to get to know our play­ers on a per­son­al level.”

This and many oth­er IWU com­mu­ni­ty projects are the result of an engage­ment plan with the Unit­ed Way of Grant Coun­ty under the direc­tion of Ali­cia Hazel­wood. Last Thurs­day, the boys and girls golf teams assist­ed with cleanup and event prepa­ra­tion in the Gar­dens of Mat­ter Park. Over the spring, the girls soc­cer team helped with cleanup of Mat­ter Park. Hazel­wood said a com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment plan is in the works for the base­ball team.

The uni­ver­si­ty is also prepar­ing for their annu­al ​“97 Acts of Kind­ness,” an ori­en­ta­tion and com­mu­ni­ty projects pro­gram for incom­ing fresh­men, which will take place this Friday.

Media Con­tact: James Loftis 765−668−4496