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West football players give back to community

By Greg Bates
Correspondent


GREEN BAY – John Saharsky is trying to change the culture with the Green Bay West High School football team.

The head coach is preaching to his players to do good things for their community.

When Saharsky got word his team could help the Green Bay area with a project, he was quick to volunteer his players’ time.

His West football team was asked to take part in a Champions of Chunky campaign event where people in need were able to come by the New Community Shelter and receive a free flu shot from Bellin Health and enjoy a meal courtesy of Campbell’s Chunky soup.

“It worked perfectly to have a team from down the street, and it also happens to be my alma mater,” Bellin Health director of marketing David Sengkhammee said.

Saharsky proposed the volunteer opportunity to his players – with the shelter being only about a half-mile from the high school — and he said they were excited to help.

“I thought it would be great to help people in our community,” West junior quarterback Jack Hemery said. “I know some of these people – they’re in school and they’re our friends.”

Saharsky said 30 of his players showed up for the event, but five were sent home to get their homework completed.

“The biggest part is for the kids to give back,” Saharsky said. “Being down the street, it’s a big part of our community. We’re lucky we got asked to do it because we look for opportunities like this. I got to sit back and watch the kids. As I looked around, I could see them getting into it. We gave them very minimal instruction, and it was cool to see them do it.”

The West players were spread out throughout the shelter during the event, greeting folks at the door, mingling with them in the cafeteria, prepping the meals and serving soup and ice cream.

“I saw it was bringing emotions to some of them,” Saharsky said. “Some of them might already be thinking about the next opportunity. I’m thinking about the next time we can do something like this together.”

The West players got to talk to fellow community members and were able to meet Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari, who helped at the event with his mom, Debbie.

The Bakhtairis donated more than 10,000 bowls of Campbell’s Chunky Soup to the New Community Shelter.

Bakhtiari became a social media sensation during the Milwaukee Bucks’ playoff run last season.

He got into an adult beverage chugging contest at Fiserv Forum with teammate Aaron Rodgers, where a video of the showdown went viral.

“We were making a joke saying we’d challenge him to a chugging of Campbell’s Soup against us,” Hemery said laughing.

Saharsky enjoyed seeing his players away from the football field interacting with community members but also with their teammates.

“As a team-building opportunity, it was great,” Saharsky said. “It’s something you can’t manufacture to see them get this close together. The social interaction with themselves and everyone else was awesome. It brought them together.”

The junior Hemery took the night with his teammates a step further.

“It’s great to be with your team on and off the field,” he said. “If you build the relationship off the field, you’ll fight for that guy on the field on Friday nights.”

Saharsky hopes having his guys out in the community and seeing those less fortunate was an eye-opener and life-changing event.

“I hope this goes onto the rest of life,” Saharsky said. “In five years, I hope we see them giving back to the community in different ways. I hope this is a spark for some of them.”

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