Servant Leadership: Knights Pitch in With Habitat for Humanity
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The contingent of Warner Pacific athletes and staff that will be representing the Knights at the NAIA National Track & Field Championships took a day from their schedule to volunteer in New Orleans.
Partnering with
Habitat for Humanity, athlete Jessica Kepfer and staff members Jamie Joss, Dave Kilian, Kelly Holding, and Karim Shakalia spent a day installing windows for a new home construction project.
"Today we began a new tradition of providing service around the country when our student-athletes and coaches compete at NAIA National Championships," Joss said. "It's exciting to see our student-athletes and staff live out the mission of Warner Pacific College."
Many communities in the New Orleans area have not fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Habitat for Humanity has a long history of building homes for families in need and has been instrumental in helping communities in affected areas around the gulf region.
"Warner Pacific is proud to be a part of the NAIA's
Champions of Character program, and what better time to live that out than at a National Championship event." Joss said. "We were able to see the impact of our service first hand by meeting the woman who will live in the home and it was great to see us build champions in communities beyond Portland."
Along with Kepfer running in the Marathon, Deborah O'Dell will compete in the high jump for the Knights at the national championships this week.