Softball Builds Home for Habitat for Humanity
9/18/2015 4:00:00 AM | Softball
By: Ashton Salyers
The Wright State University softball team participated in its annual Habitat for Humanity of Greater Dayton build on Sept. 12, 2015 at Stillwater United Methodist Church on Frederick Pike for the third consecutive year. Twenty-two members of the team, including the coaching staff, participated and the players found it anything but short of rewarding according to Kelly Dillow, a sophomore infielder for Wright State. In recent years, WSU softball has built several houses in a day's work, but this past Saturday they focused on only one.
The home built by volunteers and the helping hands of the community is being given to a very special family: a single mother, Kimberly Shephard and her three children, Tabias, Tavon and Tamaya Hailey. The Shephard-Hailey family is not only receiving the house, but they helped build it alongside the softball team and the rest of the volunteers. This gave the young women of WSU softball the opportunity to get to know the family and work with them one-on-one.
As the team acquainted themselves with the family and listened to their background, they soon discovered they weren't only building a house for a well-deserving family, but for three young people who aspire to achieve great successes someday. Tabias is the oldest of the three children and attends Thurgood Marshall High School where he excels in football and track. Tabias plans to play football and track at the collegiate level and aspires to become a mechanical engineer.
Wright State Softball poses with the Shephard-Hailey family outside the walls of their new home, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP PHOTO/Ashton Salyers)
Listening to the dreams of a young athlete made the cause truly hit home for the young women. “I am blessed to be a Division I athlete and having the opportunity to help someone else achieve that same goal that I used to have is the best feeling in the world,” said Alexis Mayle, a junior infielder for WSU.
After meeting the family, the softball team and the volunteers grabbed blueprints and began building at 9 a.m. The symphony of hammers against nails ceased just three hours later as the finished walls of the house stood in the parking lot. After seeing the product of all the hard work, Tabias Hailey said, “The volunteers and Wright State softball really opened my eyes, and I appreciate everything done for me and my family. I'm really grateful.”
The Wright State baseball team continues WSU athletics' involvement in the community this weekend as they embark on their second consecutive Habitat for Humanity build. If you would like to join the WSU baseball team this weekend or a different build in the future, visit http://daytonhabitat.volunteerhub.com/events/index to help a family in your community!
Wright State sophomore outfielder Macey Gunther said, “What you do with your time is crucial. You're never too busy to give back. It's a choice you make. You can choose to help and be humbled or choose to do nothing. One of those makes your life, someone else's life and the world better.”
