MARYSVILLE — JoAnn Sewell admits that she’s not very tall.
So when nine members of the Marysville Getchell High School basketball team helped at the food bank Saturday, she was ecstatic.
“The fact that they were tall kids came in especially handy,” the volunteer coordinator of the Marysville Food Bank said. “I’m a short person so it was like having my own crew of stepladders to reach things.”
The team donated time Jan. 9 to stock shelves and managed to wrap up their work in two hours, an hour earlier than they’d expected.
Team captains junior Collin Montez and senior Cameron Burns credited Nicole Roskelley, the mother of one of their teammates, with suggesting the idea, and coach Corby Schuh noted that he’d left it open to the food bank to contact the team again, if they needed more work done.
“Saturday mornings are always good, because we can get in a couple of hours of practice before we come by,” said Schuh, who admitted that it’s a bit more difficult for his players to show up at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, which is when the food bank really needs volunteers. “It’s a bit selfish because I’m always looking for activities we can engage in off the court, so we can hang out as a team, but this also fosters problem-solving skills and a good work ethic, both on and off the court.”
Burns agreed that “Coach wants us to promote a positive image of the team, but he also wants us to be productive members of society who do the right thing and give back to the community. When I see what other people don’t have, it makes me feel more fortunate.”
Sewell hopes this sentiment is shared by all the food bank’s volunteers, but especially the younger ones.
“We all complained about things when we were kids, but when they’re able to look around here, these kids say, hey, my life’s not so bad,” Sewell said. “We’re pretty lucky.”
Sewell praised the Marysville community for its generosity during the holidays — “They really outdid themselves” — but admitted that the food bank is not foremost on a lot of folks’ minds as the weather starts to get warmer.
“Between the holidays and the Letter Carriers Food Drive in May, our pickings can get pretty slim, so we appreciate the attention,” Sewell said.
To that end, Schuh hopes that this stint of volunteering at the food bank will mark the start of a developing relationship between the organization and its team.
