Andy Close
Sheffield High School volleyball coach Melissa Lemay got to spend some time playing Santa Claus on Wednesday.
(Photo courtesy Melissa Lemay.)
As part of the Sheffield Volleyball Booster Outreach 2020, the team collected donations for residents at the Watson Home as well as the Warren Manor that Lemay delivered yesterday.
“It’s my job to not just teach them volleyball, but how to serve the community and be of service to the community,” Lemay said.
Indeed, the Sheffield volleyball program digs in and gets involved with helping the community every season, but this season proved to be a little more difficult.
“We just couldn’t really do anything this season with COVID,” Lemay said.
But after the season, they came up with the idea to start collecting items to give to residents who not only haven’t been able to leave at all, but also can’t have visitors.
“We started collecting all kinds of things, crossword puzzles, craft supplies, knitting needles, anything we thought of that might help,” Lemay said. “Especially in nursing homes, where a lot of them don’t really have family.”
And through it all, Lemay’s volleyball team learns how to serve their community while helping out for a great cause.
“I tell them I’m not just teaching you how to serve (volleyball), I’m teaching you how to serve the community,” she said with a laugh. “As a coach, I’m just a cog in the wheel of these kids’ development. I’m just a very small part of it, but I hope what they see from me they can emulate.”
And in helping the community this year, they brought smiles to the faces of a lot of people this holiday season.
