Gators Take An Afternoon To Give Back To Community
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The room in the back of the building was packed with food. There were hundreds of plastic jars of peanut butter, a table loaded with cans of tuna, canned vegetables, fresh fruit and other goodies.
As the Rev. David J. Ruchinski spoke to a small group of reporters, a wall of Publix-brand homestyle Idaho mashed potatoes stood on a table behind him. All the food made you hungry just looking at it.
“As you can see, we bought a lot of groceries,'' Ruchinski said.
But the room of groceries at the St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center on Monday afternoon had a special destination: needy families and homeless people in Gainesville.
The person behind the idea: Gators head football coach Urban Meyer, who made a sizeable donation to make the charitable cause possible.
A few weeks ago, Meyer and his wife Shelley were at home talking about how to make a difference at Thanksgiving. What they came up with unfolded Monday afternoon a couple of blocks away from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
While students walked along the sidewalks on University Avenue – some doing a double-take – there was Meyer and approximately 50 football players loading the groceries into a truck and trailer parked on the side of the street.
The job lasted the better part of an hour after many of the players loaded the food into paper bags.
Meyer carried two bags at a time stuffed with an assortment of canned goods and other items, including socks and orange Gator football T-shirts. The players followed their coach back and forth from the room with the food to the truck and trailer parked outside.
Several UF staff officials also hopped in as some of the players had to head off to class.
At the end, starting quarterback John Brantley, running backs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, linebackers Jelani Jenkins, Brandon Hicks, Neiron Ball, and defensive end Lerentee McCray wrapped up the job.
“With Thanksgiving week coming up, you always want to find a way [to give],'' Meyer said. “I know we're humbled as a family, and I want to make sure these guys are as well.''
Once the food was loaded, Ruchinski and other members of the church planned to drop it off at various charitable organizations around town that serve the homeless and needy, including the St. Francis House, Catholic Charities and St. Vincent de Paul.
Ruchinski was grateful for Meyer's donation and the football team's muscle to make the event a reality.
Several players went with Ruchinski to pick up the food and bring it to the church on Monday morning. They then set up different stations inside the church for the players to pack the items into bags.
“I think it's going to really be a great event for Gainesville,'' Ruchinski said. “Thanks to Coach Meyer's generosity, we'll be able to continue to do some types of outreach.''
While much of the food was typical of what most people eat on Thanksgiving, each bag also included food such non-perishable items as oat meal and breakfast cereal.
“The whole point of this is that people who come out for a meal on Thursday are going to need to eat on Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday,'' Ruchinski said. “We didn't want to have something that would be just for a day. The groceries that we are putting together, if people stretch them out, are going to last for a while.''
A native of Ohio like Meyer, Ruchinski moved to Gainesville two years ago after five years of seminary school in Rome. This is his first parish assignment.
As he drove to get the food with some of the football players, he hoped to get the same message across to the Gators that Meyer imparted after Sunday night's practice. Giving is good.
“Their lives become really kind of focused in on what they do,'' Ruchinski said. “They are students, they are athletes. They put a lot of time and attention into a very narrow field of activity. Thanksgiving is that time when it's important to kind of go outside of yourself.''
Brantley obviously enjoyed Monday. He and Rainey lasted until the end, making numerous trips back and forth carrying bags of groceries.
“Any chance we have to give back to the community, we're all for it,'' Brantley said. “We've got to take care of our city and of our town.''
After working up a little sweat, Meyer let his players finish the job.
“It was a great day for us,'' he said.
