Hayward, CA – The Academy of Art University softball team woke before the sun came out to lend a helping hand to their community. The women volunteered with Habitat for Humanity to help restore a home in the East Bay area. The whole team gave up an entire Saturday to spend the day painting, sanding, hammering, and roofing, in order to help a family in need. The Knights used this experience to not only give back to others, but to build a new bond between each of them.
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that believes that every man, woman, and child deserve a safe place to live. Habitat for Humanity builds and restores simple, decent, and affordable houses to low income families around the world. They welcome volunteers of all kinds to help in the building and restoration of these houses.
“We were trying to find a local non-profit organization where we could not only work as a team, but help an organization that helps out those in need,” commented Head Coach Rachel Sherman when asked why her team decided to participate.
When the team arrived to the building site on October 16th, they had their work cut out from them. With all 20 members of the team present, including players and coaches, the Urban Knights were the largest volunteer group to help out in the Hayward location. The Knights quickly got to work, splitting themselves into three groups to help out around the house.
“We went to a house that was being remodeled,” said senior Ashley Lokey. “We split up and took different jobs and focused on different areas that needed fixing up and perfected them. The groups included painting, roofing, and sanding.”
One ART U group worked inside the house painting it from head to toe. They taped up the areas that shouldn't be painted, and then got to work painting everything from the walls to the ceiling.
A second group worked mainly on the front lawn area, fixing up every door from inside the house. After the doors were removed for painting, the team had to sand them to make sure they were correctly shaped, and then paint them with several coats of paint and a clear protective coat before they were finished.
The third group worked on the roof, where they laid down tar, and started tiling the entire roof. The ladies started from scratch and took control of the project. They hammered nails into the roof, after tarring it, then finished by laying down shingles to protect it from the elements.
The Urban Knights worked from 8:00 in the morning, to 4:00 pm, and even cleaned up after their day of construction.
After all was said and done, the Knights had completed a tremendous amount of work on the house, and covered a lot of areas that needed some serious care. Through all of the hard work, the team still had fun, and was able to get even closer while working in a new environment.
“It meant a lot to be able to help out a local community,” said junior Sierrah Garcia. “It was a very rewarding experience.”
When asked about what the team took away from the whole day's experience, coach Sherman had this to say, “They gained an awareness of organizations that offer volunteer opportunities throughout the country, where no experience is needed to help other's lives. They learned home improvement skills, and how to work as a team in small tasks.”
