GHS boys' basketball giving back for the holidays

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Many times, high school athletes and coaches lose sight of how playing the sport they love can have a positive impact on the entire community. This is not the case for The Greencastle boys' basketball program. At the suggestion of JV/Assistant varsity coach Doug Hudson, the teams from GHS turned their annual intra-squad game into a way to give back to the Putnam County Community.

For the past three years, the team has conducted an intra-squad scrimmage prior to the first contest and rather than charge admission, they have asked fans to bring non-perishable food items that are donated to the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry.

This has been a very successful venture and this year was no exception. The team collected over 100 pounds of various food items and those will be delivered to the food pantry in the coming days.

"We want to paint a positive light on our program and the young men involved," Hudson said. "We stress that philanthropy is the best way to put fans in the stands. Winning is great, but helping those less fortunate is even better. In these tough economic times, more and more people in our community are having trouble making ends meet and with the added stress of the Holidays, we wanted to do our part.

"Hopefully the young men and women involved in our program can take the lessons learned through this venture and always be looking to help others," Hudson added.