July 18, 2017
Part 1: Purpose
The second edition in our three-part series highlighting the Pepperdine Athletics Department's commitment to "Purpose, Service, Leadership" takes a look at how the department's administration and student-athletes have taken to heart a call to serve the surrounding community.
MALIBU, Calif. - Inspired by George Pepperdine's motto, "Freely ye received, freely give," (Matthew 10:8) the service aspect of the Pepperdine directive has always been a central tenet of the University's Christian mission.
From the annual Step Forward Day, which sends hundreds of Pepperdine students into surrounding communities to serve, to the Waves of Service initiative, which aims to connect students and alums to various service opportunities, preparing individuals to enact positive change in the world has always been an essential part of what Pepperdine is about.
This year the Pepperdine Athletics Department took that directive to heart, with Pepperdine student-athletes compiling 1,887 community service hours during the 2016-17 school year. Leading the Waves' community service push was Athletic Chaplain Krista Lopata, who has been expanding the department's service efforts ever since joining the staff full-time in 2014.
"I am so proud of how our student-athletes have served the community this year," said Lopata. "Serving the community provides the student-athletes with opportunities to focus on people and provide basic needs and love to those around them. I was incredibly thankful to see our athletes find numerous opportunities to do just that."
One of the most impactful areas of service was the building of lasting personal relationships through the adoption of children (and their families in many cases) who were either terminally ill or had special needs, as honorary team members. Working with groups such as Friends of Jaclyn and Team Impact, several teams adopted children for the entirety of their seasons and beyond.
"Having Vero as part of our team was truly a unique and incredible experience," said Megan House, a redshirt freshman center on the women's basketball team, after her squad adopted local teen Veronique as their honorary team member through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation. "Seeing her excitement to be a Wave made us all that much more grateful for the opportunity that we have here at Pepperdine. She has been such a blessing and even when she can't make it to games, we are reminded of her support by the art she made for us in our locker room. We love Vero like a sister and are so excited for her to continue to be a part of our family."
The efforts to make a difference in surrounding communities were varied and extensive as well. Nearly 200 Pepperdine student-athletes descended upon various locations around the Los Angeles area as part of the University's Step Forward Day, participating in a wide variety of community-based service projects alongside their fellow classmates. Pepperdine teams and individual student-athletes also partnered with organizations like the American Heart Association, LA Food Bank, Standing on Stone, Chance for Children Foundation, Project Linus, Harper for Kids and the Team Luke Foundation throughout the year.
Pepperdine student-athletes put on clinics for kids at Red Oak Elementary in nearby Oak Park, and partnered with the American Heart Association on four separate occasions to visit schools in the Los Angeles area where they would put on clinics and participate in heart-healthy activities with the children.
In a partnership initiated by Pepperdine women's soccer midfielder Bri Visalli, more than 50 student-athletes joined the Malibu Boardriders for their Ride-A-Wave event at Leo Carrillo State Beach in which children with special needs were treated to a full day of fun at the beach. Some of the other initiatives throughout the year that Pepperdine student-athletes participated in included serving the homeless at a community dinner in Malibu, making blankets for children who were critically ill and volunteering their time and efforts in numerous ways at the LA Food Bank.
The Pepperdine Athletics Department will continue to look for ways to expand these efforts in the future with the hopes of both making a positive impact in the surrounding community and instilling a heart for service in every student-athlete who competes for the Waves.
"I am looking forward to more opportunities to see where God has called the athletic community to serve," said Lopata. "We want to be a community that knows our calling to serve and part of that is having eyes to see the needs of those around us and hearts to meet those needs."
