Nov. 27, 2007

FAYETTE, Mo. - Members of Central Methodist (Mo.) University athletic teams have been busy this fall assisting with community service projects in Howard and Cooper counties.

The community service efforts are undertaken by CMU student-athletes as part of the character-building activities that go hand-in-hand with the university's participation in the Champions of Character program of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes. CMU has been a charter member of the NAIA program since its inception seven years ago.

To qualify for inclusion in the NAIA Champions of Character Program a university athletic program must meet the five core values of Sportsmanship, Responsibility, Servant Leadership, Respect and Integrity. CMU has also established a Champions of Character Council comprising 14 student-athletes (one for each varsity sport), champion of character coach, Athletic Department faculty representative, assistant athletic director and the athletic director.

"The role of the Student-Athlete Champions of Character Council is to enhance the total student-athlete experience at Central Methodist," says Kenneth Oliver, vice president for campus life and athletic director. He adds that council members do this by promoting the opportunity for all aspiring student-athletes to participate in athletics; protecting student-athlete welfare; and fostering a positive student-athlete image, while maintaining the core values of the NAIA Champions of Character Program.

Community service is a cornerstone of the CMU program. One of the most unusual and perhaps socially rewarding service projects was undertaken earlier this fall by members of the CMU Baseball Team, who spent a week working alongside 10 inmates from the Boonville (Mo.) Correctional Center.  A total of 72 CMU ball players traveled in small groups each day to Boonville (15 miles southeast of Fayette) for a week to work with the inmates. The inmates had been selected by the correctional facility to participate in the National Organization of Prison Fellowship program, through which inmates in good standing are allowed to work outside the correctional facility on community service projects.

The Boonville community service project included completion of facilities at the city's Harley Park baseball field, where the ball players and inmates tore out an old concrete walkway and built a new sidewalk around the pavilion and a concrete structure to hold a tarp backdrop. They also refurbished a wheelchair ramp at the Boonville YMCA and painted facilities.

The project was set up by the CMU ball players with the aid of Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church in Boonville, which has been working with inmates from the correctional facility through the Prison Fellowship Program for the past 12 years to complete local community service projects. The Boonville program is one of only two in the state of Missouri.

"Each day of work with the inmates by the CMU ball players began at the church with fellowship, prayers and breakfast," notes CMU Head Baseball Coach Fred Smith. At the end of each work day, the players and inmates would return to the church for refreshments and to share personal stories and feelings.

 

The inmates expressed appreciation for the opportunity to do constructive projects for the community and to work with the ball players. "It sounded like a really good opportunity to come out, be around some Christian brothers, being in a good environment for a week, and plus give back to the community," one inmate told a reporter from KOMU Television (Channel 8-NBC, Columbia, Mo.) when interviewed about the community service work with the CMU Baseball Team.

At the end of the week-long project, the 10 inmates attended Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church along with 66 members of the CMU Baseball Team. The morning's service also served as a graduation for the inmates for their successful completion of the community service projects.  And the ball players gave each inmate a CMU Baseball Team T-shirt.

"What we received from it was so much more - what we got back was tenfold more than what we gave," says Smith. "It opened our kids' eyes as to how precious life is." Smith notes that the project also brought forth a lot of community understanding and support for the inmates.

Smith says he and the CMU ball players are looking forward to other community service projects, including the possibility of additional projects involving the inmates. One of these will be the national "Angel Tree Project," a ministry program that includes local churches and reaches out to the children of inmates and their families. It provides an opportunity for groups such as the ball players and other citizens to connect with those families and begin ministering to them at Christmas and then continue through a variety of year-round ministry opportunities.

"The baseball team is adopting a number of children from the Angle Tree this Christmas," Smith says and adds, "This is the season when we ought to be giving. I hope some of our baseball students will eventually become `big brothers' to some of these kids. With one or both parents in prison, they need someone to help give them direction."