Blue Devil Girls’ Track Gives Back to Community

They are among the most talented and competitive athletes in the Blue Devil fold, but the Huntington High School girls’ varsity winter track and field team took a timeout from their training to engage in community service and meet the needs of some of Long Island’s hungry.

In the run-up to Thanksgiving Day, the Blue Devils participated in an old-fashioned food drive, collecting non-perishable food items to donate to Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank, which has been on a mission to feed Long Island’s food insecure and put an end to the root causes of hunger since its founding by the late Harry Chapin in 1980.

“We collected over 150 items as a team to donate and the LI Cares representative who accepted the donation was blown away,” said Sarah Hall, the team’s head coach and a science teacher at Huntington High School.

“As a coach, I recognize the value of participating in community service events as a team, not only for the benefit to our community, but also for the camaraderie that comes with it. I am beyond proud of my team for diving into this season ready to work and eager to participate in the food drive! We already have some ideas floating around of what to do next.”

An incredible singer-songwriter, musician and performer, Harry Chapin resided in Huntington UFSD and sent his children, Jennifer and Joshua through the district’s schools. Sales of Mr. Chapin’s records have topped 16 million.

Known worldwide for his humanitarian efforts to end hunger, he played a key role in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. Mr. Chapin helped raise millions of dollars for charities dedicated to feeding the hungry. He was killed in a fiery crash on the Long Island Expressway on July 16, 1981. He was to perform a benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow that same night.

“Oh if a man tried to take his time on earth and prove before he died what one man’s life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world,” Mr. Chapin sang in a song from his 1978 album, “Living Room Suite.” The verse is the epitaph on the Grammy Award winner’s headstone in the Huntington Rural Cemetery.

Huntington girls’ track and field team members have taken Mr. Chapin’s mission to feed the hungry and end hunger to heart.