The Ithaca College women’s lacrosse team set out into the night this Halloween, collecting canned food for a local community center and bringing their caring attitudes along the way.
The women’s lacrosse team has had a long history of service to the community, especially during the Halloween season. In 2022, then-sophomore midfielder Hayley Armstrong and then-sophomore defender Kaitlyn Russell came together with an idea to collect canned food and donate it to a local pantry. The two brought the idea to the team and were immediately astonished by the amount of support their teammates provided them.
Armstrong reiterated the immense support of her teammates and said that the group coming together for one cause so quickly was an example of the type of people the team rosters.
“If I was like, ‘Hey, we are gonna go to a neighborhood and hand out flyers tonight’ to a group of people who were not my teammates, they’d be like, ‘Really?’ but my teammates were like, ‘Awesome, perfect, how can I help? Do you need any help? I’m so excited,’” Armstrong said. “It definitely speaks to the character of our team; wanting to make a positive impact and give back. That’s the culture of our team.”
During the previous year’s drive, the team donated to No Mas Lagrimas, which is a nonprofit operating out of the Henry Saint John Building in Ithaca providing free food, youth programs and support for the community. Armstrong said that last year’s event went extremely well, gathering great support from the community in Fall Creek.
“So last year we went into it and we had no idea how much we were going to get,” Armstrong said. “We were just going to hope for the best, see what happens, walk around the neighborhood wearing our Ithaca stuff, being like, ‘Hey, remember us? We gave you the fliers, you got anything for us?’ [Our coach] parked her truck there and we went around and got the cans and brought them back and then emptied our bags into her truck. We ended up filling her entire bed of her truck, the entire back seat and the entire front seat just of nonperishable stuff. We didn’t count it, but we know that it was basically a truck-full. It was crazy.”
This year with Russell abroad, Armstrong was left to organize the drive on her own, but she still had her full team’s backing, with the drive now supporting the Southside Community Center. Southside focuses on education, collecting food for the greater Ithaca community that serves around 75 families per month and even runs its own pet clinic. Southside has been serving Ithaca since 1934 and, according to their website, looks to “empower and foster the development of self-pride among the black American residents of greater Ithaca.”
Deputy Director of Southside Kayla Matos said student organizations from the college and Cornell University have been working with Southside in helping run events like children’s community programs for a while and that she looks forward to expanded involvement.
“I love to see these relationships continue to grow and get nurtured,” Matos said. “I would love once again to continue to grow with organizations and work with more student organizations in Ithaca College as well as Cornell University in order to provide these experiences.”
Recently, Southside has been going through their own struggles, narrowly avoiding a city budget amendment that would have cut the nonprofit‘s budget by nearly 40%. The amendment was withdrawn as tremendous support was shown by community members to keep the budget in place. There could not be a better time for the team to be corresponding with the center.
Matos recapped the support shown by the community at the budget cut proposal Oct. 25 and said community support like that shown by the team is more important than ever to Southside.
“Community supporters came and the administration spoke about the importance of the Southside Community Center, so that we can really show the city that ,yes, we are nonprofit, but we are more than just the nonprofit providing services,” Matos said. “We are a historical pillar and we are a staple organization in the community and we are helping our disenfranchised communities day in and day out.”
Armstrong described the process of the drive and said that working with Southside has been very easy and rewarding.
“[Friday, Oct. 27] at 4:30 we are going down to Fall Creek to spread the word,” Armstrong said. “We got 200 fliers that we are going to put in mailboxes and on the telephone poles and whatever and just let people know — then they have until Tuesday. I just had to call Southside and be like, ‘Hey, do you want our help?’”
Armstrong said that because of the team’s prior experience with the drive in 2022, it was a much smoother process with neighborhoods already mapped out and routes ready to go.
The Halloween can drive is not the only thing that the team volunteers for throughout the year. Everyone on the team has the opportunity to bring something they are passionate about to the team and more often than not they will be supported. Senior defender and captain Maggie Mandel organized the team to participate in an Alzheimer’s prevention walk last year and said the team bonds over embracing each other’s charitable passions.
”My favorite part about the team is that if we have something we’re passionate about, we bring it to coach Moore, we bring to the captains, which is me, [senior] Caroline Wise and [senior] Sydney Phillips, and we are all on board,” Mandel said. “Last year we did a suicide prevention walk and I did the Alzheimer’s walk, which were really close and personal to us and the entire team had our back. So I think, for me, it’s about having our team behind us to support us in something that we’re passionate about and making a difference in the community.”
Mandel expressed that these charitable events show how much the team is involved in the community and brings the team closer to the people around them. Mandel said these events show that the people on the team are more than just athletes and get down to the core of who they are as people.
“I think it just shows how much of a part of the community of Ithaca we really are,” Mandel said. We are not just some team that exists and plays games and whatnot, we really get involved. In the past, we’ve done Goblin Games, which is a little kids’ tournament for lacrosse, and we volunteer and help coach. It’s just nice to be involved and I think it shows us life is not just about school and athletics, you do have to be a person as well as you are a student-athlete.”
With the team coming together to support each other for so many events, Mandel said it also helps grow their bond on the field. Mandel said that with everyone opening up to each other about causes they are passionate about, it’s easier to understand who others are and be in sync with teammates.
“It gives a sense of vulnerability of who we are because, at least for me, like last year with the Alzheimer’s walk, my grandmother died of Alzheimer’s, so that’s something super personal to me,” Mandel said. “I told the team about my experience with it and it’s definitely something that’s a little bit vulnerable and it’s nice to be received in that way from the team, like alright, let’s do this, let’s help you, let’s support you. So it makes it easier to be vulnerable on the field and trust that they have your back no matter what.”
Head coach Karrie Moore tends to let the players on her team choose charitable causes on their own and when they bring their ideas to her, she tries to support them in any way she can. Moore spoke highly of the independent nature of her players and spoke to the finalization of what they are passionate about.
“I think the people who really spearhead the community service projects for us are highly empathetic, caring, mature people. Hayley certainly is,” Moore said. “I think that they are organized and responsible and I think one of the biggest things is follow through. There’s plenty of people with nice ideas, but there’s not as many people who follow through on them. So I think the people on our team who were kind of spearheading this kind of stuff are the people who really can come up with a plan and then actually follow through on it.”
With the team sharing such care for their own individual causes, Armstrong said she feels a sort of obligation to impact the communities she is a part of in any way she can. She aims to do it again with this year’s Halloween can drive and the team will look to continue their efforts into the future.
“I can say personally, and then, I would assume that it would apply to my teammates, that we’re so privileged in our position of being college students and of being athletes,” Armstrong said. “Personally, I feel like it’s my responsibility to give back to any community that I’m in. So whether I’m at home, or at school, just finding ways to give back to the community and also leave an impact that is positive rather than no impact at all.”
