Dec. 12, 2012

Some of the Gamecocks cooking dinner.

COLUMBIA, S.C. –

Taking time out of the busy end-of-semester studying and exams, the South Carolina softball team spent Tuesday evening at the local Ronald McDonald House, working on the dinner service crew.

Redshirt sophomore Julie Sarratt, a member of South Carolina’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, thought it was great to give back. “Just helping people out in any way possible is really humbling. Seeing everyone else and what they go through, it makes us take a step back and look at how fortunate we are. We want to give back to them and help them out a little bit.”

The Gamecocks split into three groups, with one cooking the meal, others serving as hostesses to the families and the last cleaning up after the meal. Sarratt said, “We made them tacos and cookies. They seemed to enjoy it; there was food left over.”

Junior second baseman Dana Hathorn worked as part of the hostess team. She said, “I spent the evening conversing with the people staying there. I know my teammates did a really good job preparing the meal. I hope that eases the load on the families.”

The team outside the Ronald McDonald House

And the night helped put things in perspective, Hathorn said. “It reminded us, even during this stressful time around exams, there are a lot of things that could be worse.”

The Gamecocks continue with the exam schedule through next Monday and go home for the holidays when they finish with those classes. The team reconvenes in January to finish preparations for the 2013 season.