The Central Arkansas Athletic Training Students’ Association collected about 500 pounds of non-perishable food items for Bethlehem House of Conway during its annual food drive.
CAATSA partnered with the kinesiology and physical education department for the event during the 2013 holiday season.
Bethlehem House’s mission is to “encourage, equip and motivate homeless individuals and families to take the necessary steps to improve their life situations,” according to its website. Haley Moran, Bethlehem House volunteer coordinator, said they feed more than 40 people each night at the soup kitchen they operate.
They also distribute boxes of food, which include approximately 150 items each.
“We rely mostly on food donations,” Moran said. “We couldn’t exist without them.”
According to the UCA website, CAATSA is a recognized student organization at UCA. Its membership is composed of students who have been accepted into the UCA Athletic Training Education program and its objectives are to promote athletic trainingand to uphold the standards of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
Senior Rebecca Rockenhaus, CAATSA president, said the organization puts on a food drive every year, but last December, she wanted to do something to help during the Christmas holiday as well.
Last December, CAATSA students also participated in the Samaritan’s Purse: Operation Christmas Child, filling 10 shoeboxes with small gifts for children around the world. This is the first year CAATSA participated in Operation Christmas Child.
“Operation Christmas Child was an easy and cheap way for our organization to really bless some children,” Rockenhaus said. “As athletic trainers, we are servants in a sense and I think there’s nothing more important than being able to serve and bless others when we get the chance.”
Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has “helped victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine,” according to its website. Operation Christmas Child has been a part of the Samaritan Purse mission since 1993 and more than 100 million children in more than 130 countries have benefitted from the program since then.
Junior Andrew Tackett, CAATSA president elect, said the most enjoyable thing about being involved with CAATSA was being able to inform the public about athletic training.
“Most of the community is not aware of what athletic trainers actually do,” Tackett said. “Spreading the word and the importance of the profession is the most rewarding.”
Rockenhaus said one of CAATSA’s main goals is to serve the community and build community among the different classes in UCA’s athletic training education program.
“I love that we really focus on building community among each other because we spend a lot of time with our own classmates,” Rockenhaus said. “This gets the older members to really encourage the younger members and it helps all of us build friendships.”
This semester, CAATSA plans to volunteer at a soup kitchen in Little Rock as well as volunteer at the Little Rock marathon.
For more information on volunteer opportunities with Bethlehem House, contact Haley Moran at (501) 329-4862.
For more information regarding CAATSA, contact Allen Crawford at [email protected].