Tiger athletes 'give back' to a community, which gives to them

A group of Caruthersville High School football and volleyball players, as well as cheerleaders, pose after spending a recent afternoon distributing food to Pemiscot County residents in need on behalf of the Southeast Missouri Food Bank.

Photo courtesy of Caruthersville Athletics

The Caruthersville High School fall athletic season is still a month away, but if you ask a horde of families throughout the Bootheel, the Tigers have already achieved their first victory of the upcoming school year.

The Tiger football, volleyball, and cheerleading squads recently spent a day helping the Southeast Missouri Food Bank distribute food to Pemiscot County residents in need.

“We did this last year,” Caruthersville High football coach and athletic director Dom Guglielmo said. “It was good. We had some food left over and we donated it to homes in town that needed it.”

Leftovers weren’t an issue this year, however.

“We ran out of food in an hour and a half,” Guglielmo said.

The Tiger student-athletes helped unpack the boxes of food and assisted the families in loading their vehicles. The experience is part of the school’s instructing young people on the importance of “giving back,” according to Guglielmo.

“We had 40 to 50 kids show up to help,” Guglielmo said. “Our kids are really good about giving back. They are like warm M&Ms. They have this gruff exterior, but they are nice and soft inside.

“They really do like helping people.”

Since he arrived to guide the football program two years ago, Guglielmo has set a goal for his program to donate 300 hours each summer of community service. This summer, the Tiger football players donated 330 hours to helping others in their community.

“I’m extremely proud,” Guglielmo said of his players’ efforts. “The thing is, the community does so much for us. Football can raise money. The other sports can raise money, which pours into our school. We have to do a good job of giving back.

“We need to meet them in the middle.”

Guglielmo said the support that his team receives each Friday night in the fall gives everyone in the program “a sense of pride,” and in some ways can’t be measured.

“Whether it is tangible goods or intangible goods,” Guglielmo said, “everybody in this community feeds into the success of our athletic program.”