Members of the Mount St. Mary’s University men’s basketball team offered an assist to the Frederick Rescue Mission on Friday.
The 17-member team and coaches unloaded food donations from the Maryland Food Bank for the mission’s food distribution center. They also packaged groceries and helped carry them to people’s vehicles.
Coach Dan Engelstad said the work was a chance to show the team’s appreciation for the community and to give back.
“We want to develop our guys not just as basketball players,” he said. “We want to develop them as well-rounded people and give back to the community.”
Omar Habwe, a sophomore forward studying international business, said he had done similar types of volunteering while in high school.
“I think this will be a great experience for us as a team,” Habwe said before the day of service. “We get to help out people who are not as fortunate as us.”
Engelstad said service is a great team-building activity.
“We talk a lot about growing together, and this is a big part of that,” he said.
Matt Becht, a freshman guard, said he was excited to be working alongside his teammates.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting with members of the community that I’m going to be interacting with over the next four years with games and such,” Becht said Thursday.
The Frederick Rescue Mission, on West South Street, serves the county’s homeless and working poor. It provides food and clothing as well as other services, including residential recovery programs.
