UMW Men's Soccer has partnered with the Fredericksburg Baptist Church in terms of service work this spring. The church has opened up many opportunities for our team to serve the surrounding community and, in particular, the homeless population. In our program we often talk about "serve together, win together" with the hope that our shared experiences with translate to increased cohesiveness and brotherhood on the soccer field.
On Jan 30th our entire team worked to prepare a house for usage as homeless housing. The house, located in Fredericksburg, needed to be emptied of all furniture and carpet, cleaned, and painted. The team worked hard for about 4 hours on the project. The house should be a temporary home for many homeless families in the years to come as they try to find a more permanent living situation and work.
In addition, the presence of our men's soccer program is now a staple of Thursday night Community Dinners at the church. Thursday night community dinners, now a 15 year tradition, serves anyone in Fredericksburg who needs a meal. In large part, the local homeless population. Each Thursday the Church serves about 200 dinners and our program participates in the preparation, cooking, serving, and clean up of the entire event each week. This weekly service will only strengthen our relationship, in terms of service work and can hopefully make a lasting impact on the community, as well as our team.
-Jason Kilby, UMW head men's soccer coach