March 16, 2013
By Matt Winkeljohn
Sting Daily
Brandon Thomas, Sam Dove and Dusty Isaacs had a little time the other day, although not much, and the Georgia Tech baseball players put it to use for others.
On Wednesday, they went to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Mercy Clinic on Decatur Street, near Georgia State, and lent hands.
It was good for the less fortunate people whom they helped. It may have qualified as great for these Yellow Jackets. In fact, Thomas – the senior who pulled the idea together – believes a bigger group of Tech players will do this again when their schedule is friendlier.
“My mom [Patti Thomas] is on the board with WINGS, an organization that partners with St. Joe’s, so she suggested that it was something they’d like to do and we were real excited about making something happen from a Georgia Tech standpoint,” said the senior outfielder.
“We would have had a lot more guys, but it was at 9 o’clock Wednesday morning and a lot of guys had class. I think we’re going to get something bigger together with more of the guys once we’re out of school in May.”
WINGS – Workers Involved with New Growth for St. Joseph’s – is a volunteer fundraising arm of the St. Joseph’s Mercy Foundation.
Isaacs, a junior pitcher, considered Wednesday morning perhaps the highlight of his week.
“It was really nice. We brought some doughnuts and water, and put together some hygiene kits for them,” he said. “Between me, Sam Dove, Thomas and some helpers we put together around 1,000 hygiene packs that morning.
“It was really cool, one of those eye-opening things where you don’t really realize how good you have it or how lucky you are until you walk in there with bottled water and they jump on it pretty quick. It makes you realize what you have, and how blessed we are with the opportunities that are in front of us.”
Dove, a senior, Isaacs and Thomas are strong candidates to return.
“We probably get just as much out of it as the people we’re helping, “Thomas said. “It’s kind of like seeing reality with people who don’t have as much as we do, or who aren’t blessed with the families and relationships we’ve been lucky to have in our lives. It was eye opening, and pretty nice to be able to reach out and help them.”
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