AFH University Expands at Michigan State - Athletes for Hope

AFH University Expands at Michigan State

AFH University (AFH U) began our work with Michigan State University (MSU) in late 2016 and has slowly but steadily grown to include a remarkable group of dedicated volunteers in the community! Last year, three MSU teams completed 126 hours of service in the community and we anticipate this number to increase exponentially as more student-athletes engage in service in the Lansing community. We’ve heard great things from the student-athletes, community partners and kids who have benefitted tremendously by having an MSU student-athlete connect with them.

Here are some quick results from our MSU post AFH U program survey last year:

100% Strongly Agreed with the following after the AFH U program:

  • I have increased my knowledge about community involvement.
  • I am more likely to give back in my community.
  • I felt the workshops prepared me for work in the community.
  • I enjoyed volunteering this year.
  • I had clear communication about my volunteer experience.
  • I understood what was expected of me during my volunteer opportunities.
  • I feel empowered to do more volunteer work after this experience with AFH U.
  • I feel that I had an impact on the children in the program where I volunteered.

We benefitted by having mentors who were positive, outgoing, interactive and friendly work closely with young children. The children loved having the team members visit. I appreciated their help. They modeled and also coached students to improve skills, which was beneficial to the students learning.” – MSU Partner

Student-athletes from Men’s Soccer and Women’s Field Hockey have kicked off their 2019 spring seasons by volunteering with Colt and Marble Elementary Schools and are having fun getting kids active. We’ve loved seeing these Spartans giving back each month and hear from school partners that the students-athletes have become a crucial part of their week. We were sad to say goodbye to DeJuan Jones from MSU Men’s Soccer as he left to participate in the MLS Draft but are so proud of him for being drafted into the MLS Team, New England Revolution! He had a lasting impact on the kids at Marble Elementary and we will all be rooting for him as he begins his professional career in soccer.

I learned that it is super important to do physical activity and it can also be fun along the way.” – Student at Marble Elementary, Lansing, MI

This past month, we’ve had the incredible opportunity to visit with a larger group of MSU student-athletes in beautiful Lansing, MI. On January 16, 2019, the AFH U staff attended the MSU Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) to present to all teams about AFH U. AFH staff shared the vision of our founders to educate, connect and recognize the great work that athletes can do to give back to their communities. More than seventeen (17) team leads from the SAAC have requested additional information and AFH U workshops for their teams. The AFH U team was able to head back in February and hold workshops with four new teams with other teams coming on as schedules allow them to participate in a workshop.  Men’s Golf, Women’s Tennis, Women’s Soccer and Women’s Volleyball teams all showed up to get educated and inspired for service with AFH U. After two days of workshops and meeting student-athletes from MSU, the AFH U team left Lansing, MI eager to start connecting these teams to service. We have additional workshops still to be scheduled at MSU and hope next trip we can come cheer on one of these fantastic Spartan teams at a game or match.