TAMIU Annual Report 2020

ATHLETICS The bad news is that the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the cancel- lation of last spring’s planned VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 9194 BBQ Party, offered in conjunction with TAMIU’s home baseball and softball contests. The good news is that the cancellation did not slow down the fundraising goal of the event, which provided a home for a deserving Laredo military Veteran. Representatives fromTAMIUAthletics, VFWPost 9194, GreenZone Housing and other civic organizations gathered at the L&F Distribu- tors parking lot this summer to present keys to a shipping container home for United States Marine Mark Nagele . TAMIUAthletics has sponsored aMilitary AppreciationBBQben- efitting various causes for several years and entered into a partner- ship with VFWPost 9194 in September 2019. The primary goal of the TAMIUAthletics - VFWpartnership is to address the housingneeds of Laredo’s at-riskVeteranpopulation throughan annual BBQ fundraiser. PANDEMIC CAN’T STOP DUSTDEVIL ATHLETICS SUPPORT FOR VETERANS While the VFW has a long-term goal of establishing a Veterans Village in Laredo, projects like TAMIU’s offer service-learning op- portunities for student-athletes and the general student population. Dan Lathey , TAMIU associate athletics director, said the VFW Partnership is unique and serves as a model for other colleges and universities to emulate. “We have garnered a lot of momentum for our partnership with VFWover a short periodof time,” Lathey said, “We look forward to this partnership growing into a premier fundraiser and ongoing service- learning opportunity for all TAMIUstudents. I amconstantly in touch withVFWPost 9194Commander RicardoQuijano and I amconfident that TAMIUAthletics will play a huge role in Laredo’s response to the issue of inadequate housing for our deserving Veterans population.” L to R Front Row: Jaden González, Dan Lathey, Alejandro Martínez, U.S. Marine, and Lindsey Thorpe. L to R, Back Row: Raúl Salgado Jr., JaimeMendiola, andMark Cook. Pre-Pandemic photo 27