Click here for a photo gallery of EKU student-athletes volunteering in the community!

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University student-athletes volunteered at a pair of local charity events in April, lending a hand at a recycling fundraiser that benefited the Ronald McDonald House on April 11 and the Pack the Track for Diabetes Awareness event on April 18.

EKU student-athletes, and even the Colonel himself, celebrated the work of Madison County elementary, middle and high school students at the Madison County Recycling Center on Thursday, April 11. The local students had collected soda can tabs and turned them in to the recycling center, which in turn donated the amount of money those tabs were worth to the Ronald McDonald House. The Colonel athletes signed autographs at the event and took pictures with the local students.

On Thursday, April 18, EKU student-athletes continued giving back to the community, this time volunteering at the Pack the Track for Diabetes Awareness event at Tom Samuels Track on EKU’s campus. The event partnered the Madison County Diabetes Coalition and EKU through the College of Health Sciences to bring awareness to healthy living, diabetes prevention, etc. Waco and Model elementary and Model middle and high school students walked the track throughout the afternoon, earning a silly band for each lap walked. Some of the students had sponsors. An estimated 900 students walked the track throughout the day. EKU student-athletes walked the track with participants and also set up a table along the track that featured, among other things, a fruit smoothie-producing exercise bike. More than 30 student-athletes from the EKU women's basketball, cross country, football, women's golf, soccer and volleyball teams volunteered at the track.

Junior soccer player Tess Akgunduz, the president of EKU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), participated in both events and noted that it was gratifying to have the opportunity to give back to the community that supports the Colonels.

“I have been blessed to take part in the Ronald McDonald House recycling event last week and the Pack the Track Diabetes Awareness event this week, and I have enjoyed being able to promote healthy lifestyles to the community,” Akgunduz said. “As student-athletes, we work hard to represent Richmond and Madison County and both of these events were great opportunities to give back to the community that supports us while we compete.”