Saturday, June 10, 2023
PEAK Swimming Receives Presidential Volunteer Service Award
Every year the athletes of PEAK Swimming in Pearland, Texas have undertaken a service project. They’ve adopted roads and organized street cleanup but once COVID hit and the individual organizing these projects left the organization, PEAK had to find another cause to devote their out-of-water energies to.
“This past year or two, we’ve been looking at options that would allow all of our kids, from ages 6-18, to participate in something, and one of our members suggested the Houston Food Bank since they had a great experience with their company when they went, so I reached out to them and told them we might be able to bring 25-30 people,” Natalie Melenric, Lead Site Coach at the Pearland Natatorium, said. “I put it out to our people and about 80 people signed up to go. It was exciting. It was a three-hour stint. We were organizing boxes to be shipped out to families, checking expiration dates, organizing product, so it was something really all of our kids could do. We had lots of parents and siblings help out as well. We had a lot of fun and will definitely go back next year.”
Following their efforts that Saturday afternoon, Melenric said she received an unexpected email. The team was the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Bronze Medal Award for the hours they put in at the food bank.
“This award just kind of popped up,” she said. “(The food bank) sent an email and said ‘You earned this many hours, it qualifies for our bronze medal award. Would you come to an awards ceremony?’ I had no expectation of any of that. We went and they gave us a pin, a letter from the President and a certificate. It was exciting for our team. We’ve never been recognized for a service project award before.”
The service day was such a hit with team members, PEAK Swimming is looking to do two events next year and look forward to working with the Houston Food Bank once again, as well as finding more ways they can be involved in the community. Melenric said the team is also looking at doing a beach cleanup since they live so close to Galveston.
“A lot of people think of a sports team as just performance-based, and we really believe what we’re doing for these kids is much deeper than that,” she said. “We’re really just trying to create great people who give back. We try to make sure our athletes are doing what they need to do to be good citizens outside of the pool so offering these opportunities is really important to us.”
“This past year or two, we’ve been looking at options that would allow all of our kids, from ages 6-18, to participate in something, and one of our members suggested the Houston Food Bank since they had a great experience with their company when they went, so I reached out to them and told them we might be able to bring 25-30 people,” Natalie Melenric, Lead Site Coach at the Pearland Natatorium, said. “I put it out to our people and about 80 people signed up to go. It was exciting. It was a three-hour stint. We were organizing boxes to be shipped out to families, checking expiration dates, organizing product, so it was something really all of our kids could do. We had lots of parents and siblings help out as well. We had a lot of fun and will definitely go back next year.”
Following their efforts that Saturday afternoon, Melenric said she received an unexpected email. The team was the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Bronze Medal Award for the hours they put in at the food bank.
“This award just kind of popped up,” she said. “(The food bank) sent an email and said ‘You earned this many hours, it qualifies for our bronze medal award. Would you come to an awards ceremony?’ I had no expectation of any of that. We went and they gave us a pin, a letter from the President and a certificate. It was exciting for our team. We’ve never been recognized for a service project award before.”
The service day was such a hit with team members, PEAK Swimming is looking to do two events next year and look forward to working with the Houston Food Bank once again, as well as finding more ways they can be involved in the community. Melenric said the team is also looking at doing a beach cleanup since they live so close to Galveston.
“A lot of people think of a sports team as just performance-based, and we really believe what we’re doing for these kids is much deeper than that,” she said. “We’re really just trying to create great people who give back. We try to make sure our athletes are doing what they need to do to be good citizens outside of the pool so offering these opportunities is really important to us.”