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Eagle athletes find satisfaction in helping others
South Putnam student-athletes Madie Newby and Macie Bumgardner teamed up on Tuesday to help others in a time of great need, coordinating and operating a drive-up donation center at their school to help the food pantry at the nearby New Providence Baptist Church.
In all, the girls collected a total of 1,005 items and $1,265 in additional cash contributions during their three-hour event held in the parking lot in front of the school.
The temperatures were lower than they had been and it was windy, and a pop-up tent was on hand to protect the food items – but the rain held off. Both girls term the event a success.
“We’ve had a really great turnout,” Bumgardner, a senior-to-be, said about halfway through the food drive. “We have tons of food, and people have contributed a lot of money. We are really happy it has turned out like this, and I want to thank the Lord for giving us this opportunity and holding off the rain so we can have a great turnout like this.”
Newby, a freshman, played golf for the Eagles last fall and was a member of the junior varsity basketball team this winter.
“In just over an hour, we raised over $1,000 and have more than 800 items,” she said. “The response has been great.”
She is also a member of the school’s Student Council, and attempts to put on such a project through that organization never materialized.
“I went to Macie, who works at the food pantry, and asked her if this was a good idea or not,” Newby said. “She said ‘yeah, let’s do it’ and it just took off from there.”
Newby takes a lot of satisfaction in what they were able to do in such a short window of time.
“It’s great to see that your hard work is going toward something so great for people who really need it,” she said.
Bumgardner, a starting post player for the school’s sectional championship basketball team this year who was also planning to compete in softball this spring, admits that Newby had the original idea for the project.
"She mentioned doing a food drive, and we talked about who to do the food drive for,” Bumgardner said. “We thought about doing it for a food pantry, and then we had to decide which one. It took us about a week to get it planned, and we had to get permission from the superintendent and the principal to do it at the school since it is closed.”
Bumgardner attends church at New Providence, and also helps with the food pantry there – giving the girls a perfect place to provide assistance.
She has seen first-hand the need for the food pantry program.
“I know people in the church who have lost jobs, and a lot of our clients with the food pantry are older and they really don’t want to get out and go to the store for supplies,” she said. Bumgardner noted that the normal number of boxes distributed is around 75, but the number has been increasing during the pandemic.
“We have been getting about 15 new families every week to enter the program,” she said.
Bumgardner noted that the food pantry is open from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays.
“We pre-pack the boxes on Mondays, and have a drive-through so they don’t have to get out of their cars,” she said. “We are gladly willing to give them anything that we have.”
For both girls, not only do they get to help in the lives of other people but the event also gives them a diversion from what can sometimes be a tedious existence with the stay-at-home guidelines put in place due to the COVID-19 virus.
“I live about 10 miles away from school, and this is the first time I’ve been away from my house since this started,” Bumgardner said.
Newby was glad the food drive allowed her an opportunity to get out of the house.
“Being able to do things outdoors, especially doing good for people, is great,” she said. “I don’t like to be stuck indoors all the time.”
Newby said she and Bumgardner have considered doing additional collections in the future.
“I think we’re planning to do another one,” she said. “It’s good to see there is good out here in this crazy world.”