H-D-CAL wrestling team helps raise food for Hampton Food Bank through scrimmage

Eric Barkema, co-chair of the Hampton-Dumont-CAL wrestling booster club, couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of wrestlers collecting food donations for the hungry in the area.

“For a bunch of guys that don’t get to eat a lot this time of year, they enjoy helping the community,” he said, with a laugh.

Last Wednesday, members of the Hampton-Dumont-CAL wrestling team dropped off a tote full of non-perishable foods at the Hampton Food Pantry as part of the annual Take Down Hunger in Franklin County food drive. The evening before, the wrestling team hosted an intersquad scrimmage, where spectators were asked to bring a food item. The items collected were then donated to the food bank.

This is the fourth year for the event and each year, Barkema said he’s thankful for the community’s donation, the wrestlers’ help and the food bank’s willingness to accept the donations and help those in need.

“We bring the food but we don’t see the people who actually get it, but we see the people (who work at the food bank) and the appreciation they have for us doing it makes it worth while,” he said.

Sophomore Braden Hansen said he was happy to help with the donation but was quick to deflect credit. He said it was the community’s willingness to donate their money for a cause that benefits neighbors, friends and family.

“A lot of it is the community helping the community,” he said. “There were a lot of fans that came to watch that gave the food. We got to wrestle but they brought the food for our community and it wasn’t just us that did it.”

Junior Tomas Cavazos said that seeing the turnout for the scrimmage, despite the weather, and the donations that came with it made him proud of the H-D-CAL community. He said it shows not only a willingness to help out when possible, but compassion for people who live here who aren’t as fortunate.

“It shows that we’re all just a big family and we want to help each other,” he said. “Everyone benefits when we work together.”

With this years’ event in the books, Wrestling Booster Club co-chair Pauline Barkema said she’s looking forward to the next event but for now, wanted to express her appreciation for the community’s support of the event, the wrestlers and the food pantry.

“It’s always good for the boys to understand service back to the community and I think that’s something our athletics are doing well at growing is showing the need to do this stuff for the community because the community does so much for them,” she said.