Varsity football team volunteers at RHA Howell Center 
June 2, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Charlotte Christian School’s varsity football coach Jason Estep and his team spent a recent Sunday volunteering their time to build tables and benches for young people with disabilities and their families at the RHA Howell Center in Mint Hill.
The Charlotte Observer reported that the teen athletes and their coach built and stained outdoor tables for families to use while visiting residents at the 120-bed facility and for the residents to enjoy themselves. The team also washed the special vans the center uses, spread mulch around flowerbeds, and completed other projects that “only needed hands, not money,” Observer columnist Langston Wertz Jr. reported.
According to Wertz, Coach Estep first visited the RHA Howell facility after he’d asked Kenny Hibbert, pastor of Matthews Team Church, to let him know of any community service project his football team could perform. Hibbert’s daughter has been a resident at the RHA Howell center for two years, so the pastor was aware of some of the center’s needs.
“I was blown away with the facility and the people who work there,” Estep told the Observer. “I thought they could use our help. I told Kenny, ‘Let’s make this happen.’ ”
Besides the work Coat Estep’s football players accomplished, Hibbert said he appreciates the positive light community service sheds on teenagers and teen athletes.
“I think it is great to show that we do have great character young men in our city,” he told Wertz. “Too many times the public view of teenage athletes is tarnished by those grabbing the negative headlines.”
The RHA Howell facility where the football team volunteered their time serves young people with severe mental and physical disabilities. To read Langston Wertz’s entire column, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/23/1452547/teen-athletes-pitch-in-at-howell.html.
For more information on RHA Howell, visit www.rhahowell.org.
About RHA Howell, Inc.:
RHA Howell is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that has been helping people with disabilities and special needs, and their families, make choices to live more independently for more than 35 years. Integrity, high standards for quality, and hard work are at the core of every RHA Howell disability assistance program. Proven leaders in caring for people, RHA Howell, Inc. is a pioneering force in the field of human services, particularly supporting infants and children. For more information, go to www.rhahowell.org.
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