Topic: News:08 Olympians Join Colorado Springs' Habitat for Humanity Build Day

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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2008 Olympians Join Colorado Springs' Habitat for Humanity Build Day Day

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, as well as Olympic alumni and hopefuls, are joining together to celebrate the spirit of the Olympic Movement on Saturday, Nov. 22, at Olympic and Paralympic Build Day with Habitat for Humanity in Colorado Springs, Colo. Also as a part of the Team for Tomorrow humanitarian fund, U.S. athletes around the country are working with their local Habitat for Humanity affiliates, spreading the spirit of Olympism while making a difference in their hometown communities.

Beijing Olympians and Paralympians participating in Nov. 22's all-day build in Northeast Colorado Springs include U.S. flag bearer and track & field athlete Lopez Lomong (Flagstaff, Ariz.) and volleyball silver medalist Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.). Joining them are cyclist Michael Blatchford (Cypress, Calif.), pentathlete Eli Bremer (Monument, Colo.), weightlifter Carissa Gump (Essex, Vt.), Paralympic cyclist and skier Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo.), wrestler Brad Vering (Howells, Neb.) and women's volleyball coach Tom Hogan (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Also lending helping hands during the build day are 2004 Olympic fencer Cody Mattern-Nagengast (Tigard, Ore.), Olympic shooting hopeful Amy Sowash (Richmond, Ky.), three-time kayak Olympian and U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Chief Operating Officer Norman Bellingham (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and three-time handball Olympian and U.S. Paralympics staff member Laura Ryan (Colorado Springs, Colo.). The Colorado Springs family receiving the home after its completion will also work alongside the athletes during the build.

Olympic and Paralympic Build Day with Habitat for Humanity is a part of the USOC's Team for Tomorrow fund. Launched prior to the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Team for Tomorrow is the ongoing humanitarian relief effort of America's Olympic and Paralympic Teams that consists of donations, volunteerism and other relief contributions to organizations including Habitat for Humanity, the selected cause of the 2008 teams.

Activities like the inaugural Olympic and Paralympic Build Day with Habitat for Humanity allow America's top athletes to gain an even deeper meaning out of representing the United States as an Olympic and Paralympic athlete. Through the fund, athletes also help further the Olympic Ideals of goodwill, understanding, tolerance and harmony.

Through the fund, several athletes have already donated service hours to Habitat for Humanity affiliates in communities around the nation, including Olympic race walker Phillip Dunn (San Diego, Calif.), Paralympic swimming gold medalist Aaron Paulson (Portland, Ore.) and Olympic field hockey players Lauren Powley (San Diego, Calif.) and Amy Tran (Norfolk, Va.). Dozens more U.S. athletes are expected to participate this winter and spring.

Team for Tomorrow has also extended its reach beyond the United States to people in need around the globe. On behalf of the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Teams, the USOC donated 1,000 relief tents to survivors of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan Province that left approximately 5 million people homeless. The tents, which can sleep 8-10 people each, were transported to Chengdu, Sichuan, China, where they have assisted thousands of victims who lost their homes in the earthquake.

The earthquake relief efforts and the inaugural Olympic and Paralympic Build Day with Habitat for Humanity are just two ways America's Olympians and Paralympians are making a difference beyond the playing fields. In the future, in partnership with the 2010 and 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, the Team for Tomorrow fund will partner with other causes in the United States and around the world to continue spreading the spirit of the Olympic Movement.

Media interested in attending the Olympic and Paralympic Build Day with Habitat for Humanity, as well as obtaining photos or quotes, should contact Lindsay DeWall at lindsay.dewall@usoc.org.

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Olympic athletes help build the future for local family
By Abby Lane

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Hammering isn’t part of their training. Neither is sawing.

“A lot of things that I don't have any skills for doing but I'm doing what I can to help contribute to the project,” said Carissa Gump, an Olympic weightlifter who took a break from her routine to help build a future 5-bedroom home for a single mother with 7 children.
 
It's Gump’s way to thank the community. “I've been here for 8 years training as an athlete and the community's always been very supportive of the Olympic movement,” she said.
 
On Saturday, she and 11 other Olympic athletes volunteered with Habit for Humanity, the non-profit that builds affordable homes for low-income families.  “It means a total life-changing experience,” said Paul Johnson, executive director of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity. “They know where they're going to be living instead of being nomadic every year.”
 
Underneath one of the hard hats at the site in northeastern Colorado Springs is Lopez Lomong, the Olympic track and field athlete who carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremonies. His reason for picking up a tool belt is deeply personal.

“These great people in America brought me here and put me in a house,” he said. “I think this is how they started.”

Champion athletes, and champions of a good cause.