BERKELEY –  The Tuesday following Thanksgiving has been coined  "Giving Tuesday" over the last few years, promoted as a day for charitable contribution and activities following  the onslaught of Holiday sales.  For the Cal  men's rowing  team, Giving Tuesday took on yet another meaning, as the Golden Bears teamed up with seven different East Bay community organizations for the day in an effort to give back directly to the community.  Over the course of ten hours, the entire team split into different groups to visit various service locations throughout Berkeley and Oakland.
 
The team visited St. Mark's Church, Tech Exchange, Meals on Wheels, South Berkeley Elderly Center, Redwood Senior Citizens Center, United for Success Academy, and the Oakland Boys and Girls Club. Each one of these service locations offered a unique opportunity for student-athletes to interact directly with members of  the  East Bay community.

"We are incredibly proud of our student-athletes for their engagement of service to the community," said assistant coach Patrick Schulkers. "With our team size, it can be daunting to get everyone an opportunity. The guys took initiative to organize their smaller groups and transportation. A credit to them for stepping up to the challenge."
 
Starting at 9:00 a.m., several athletes handed out flyers for the St. Mark's Church's new study hall initiative. From 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ten members of the team visited Tech Exchange to help test and package refurbished technology for low income households.

"We are fortunate enough to attend Cal, and even though I was born and raised in Australia, I feel like I am now a part of this community," said senior Jack Cleary. "It just feels really great to be able to give back to the East Bay."

From 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, a large portion of the team worked with the South Berkeley Elderly Center, Redwood Senior Citizens Center, and Meals on Wheels to assist with lunch service, organize elderly homes, and interact with residents. The last two stops of the day from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. were with the United for Success Academy and the Oakland Boys and Girls Club. Student-athletes took the time to help with homework, talk about the importance of school and being active, play sports, and do arts and crafts with the children.  
 
As these student-athletes gave back to the community, the program also received an incredible outpouring of donations from Cal Rowing alumni, supporters, and friends.

"It was a really special day for our Cal Rowing community," said Schulkers. "We saw over seventy people make contributions in honor of our student-athletes' efforts to give back to the community on Giving Tuesday. We owe a big thank you to Bobby Thompson and the Student-Athlete Development team for making this possible."
 
The student-athletes and their volunteer sites are listed below:

St. Mark's Church

Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk

Nik Krebs

Hugo Van De Graaf

Mark Brinker

Marcin Pawlowski

Meals on Wheels

George Finlayson

Will Creedon

 
Tech Exchange

Jack Cleary

Chris Duval

Ethan McCoach

Steven Max

Cameron Smith

Parker Nelson

Sam Long

Mackenzie Bass

Bennett Stahl

Christian Le Doux

 
Senior Citizens Center - Berkeley Student Co-op

Andrew DiCandilo

Mitch Algert

Cooper Ball

Brett Vilk

Sam Horsley

Burke Wynne

Jack Gordon

Hamish McDonald

Trevor McEvoy

Harry Osti

 
South Berkeley Elderly Center

Brock Bozzani

Nathan Richards

Kealan Hennessy

Jack Robertson

Gosden-Kaye

Elliot Rogers

Thomas Barnes

Colin Fitzpatrick

Brett Cataldo

Cameron Chater

Reid Rolfes

John Amorosana

Bjorn Lustic

Max Hall

Joe Sterner

Max Sullivan

Toby Dixon