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Durham Attack CARES about Community: Raises over 1,700lbs of Food for Feed the Need

By Ontario Volleyball, 04/02/21, 10:15AM EDT

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Durham Attack Volleyball Club makes community service a priority for their players, coaches and administrators. On March 28, the Club held a food drive in support of Feed the Need in Durham which saw an incredible amount of food donated. Teams from the Attack brought in 1,781 pounds of food to the door of Feed the Need - roughly translating to 1,484 meals to provide to those in need throughout the community.

These projects of community goodwill is all part of the Club's Durham Attack CARES initiative, which each team is required to complete.

“Sport is an incredible vehicle for personal development, and as members of the club we are all so fortunate to have had the opportunity to play our various roles," said Lisa Willson, Durham Attack Treasurer. "As a club we believe strongly in developing the whole athlete. Part of our mission is to create great members of our community, and volleyball is our vehicle for doing this.

We achieve this goal by providing ways for all of our athletes to give back to their community, and by giving support to athletes in need. Support, and giving back. We call this program Durham Attack CARES.”

Despite it being another difficult year with the ongoing pandemic, Willson stated that Attack executives agreed it would be beneficial to do a Club-wide initiative and hopes that moving forward, it becomes an annual event.

All the teams and players in the Feed the Need initiatives involvement were voluntary. To ensure the initiative was safe, each team collected their items and the executive team picked them up at a drop-off location.

Durham Attack Feed the Need drop-off

Pallets upon pallets were filled to capacity with food and other goods at the Feed the Need drop-off.

“Thank you, Durham Attack community, for your support in helping nourish your neighbors!” Feed the Need in Durham commented.

Durham Attack hopes to continue this impressive initiative with another food drive around the holidays in December of 2021. Even though the youth sports landscape is everchanging at the moment, Durham Attack wants to continue to help the community where they can.

As for how the Club has been dealing with the pandemic, Willson had this to say. “We have been doing well and handling it the best we can. We have over 200 athletes and 55 coaches who practice twice a week. During the lockdown, they were all engaged in Zoom workouts as well! We have also had many guest speakers and online programs to benefit our athletes this year. It has been extremely positive.”

Feed the Need in Durham is a proud member of Feed Ontario and Food Banks Canada, two organizations that the OVA has supported in recent memory. It was nearly one year ago that the OVA launched a small campaign to raise funds to support Feed Ontario's network of food banks and their COVID-19 emergency fund. With CanuckStuff and the sale of TO2020 (the cancelled 2020 Ontario Championships) merchandise, the OVA was able to raise $15,000 and began the OVACares program.

The OVA is proud to have Clubs like the Durham Attack who engage with their communities to make positive change where they are able.