GREENFIELD — The Greenfield High School football team received a loud round of applause Tuesday afternoon, one that had nothing to do with anything related to its gridiron accomplishments.
The team was thanked by about 50 senior citizens after putting on a luncheon at the Weldon Senior Center.
Seven Green Wave players served hot dogs and hamburgers to Franklin County seniors citizens from many Franklin County towns. The grub was grilled by the GHS football coaching staff. Coordinators John Hickey and Al Dean fought through the smoke from the grill to prepare the food, assistant Glenn Wilson, who came up with the idea for the free luncheon, helped run the burgers and dogs into the kitchen, and head coach Mike Kuchieski served to coordinate the players preparing the plates and those serving the seniors. Rather than holler out plays from the sideline, Kuchieski spent the better part of an hour barking out things such as, “I need three cheeseburgers, two hot dogs and a hamburger with no bun.” And team manager Fred Bruce was also on hand to help out with the food preparation.
The players did much of the work and showed a propensity for teamwork, something that should help just over a month from now, when they trade the latex gloves and aprons for helmets and pads. On Tuesday, senior Tyler Townsley and junior Colin Cloutier were busy preparing the plates in the kitchen, along with senior Collin Kosuda and freshman Kenny Adams. The four not only put the cooked meat in buns, they also put potato chips and pickles on the plates in a pace they can only hope to match when they are running preseason sprints. Townsley seemed especially at home preparing the food, which should come as no surprise; he works part-time at Denny’s Pantry in Greenfield.
“None of us had any idea what we were doing,” Townsley joked as he placed pickles on plates. “But this is nice because I know a lot of people come out and watch our games and it’s a way for us to give back.”
Junior Lazarous Santiago, senior Jesus Rodriguez and freshman Cameron Rice were tasked with passing out plates, as was Kuchieski’s son Trevor, who is never far from the team. Santiago said he was on board to help with the luncheon when coach Wilson first mentioned the idea.
“Coach came up with the idea and I thought it was really cool,” the lineman said. “It’s great to do something for the community, and you get to meet a bunch of new people. Plus it’s cool to get the team together for something like this.”
Wilson came up with the idea, not the first time he has tried to give back to the community where he is coaching. Wilson formerly coached at Pioneer Valley Regional School. During his time in Northfield, he had the team put on a luncheon for the first-responders in the Pioneer district. He also did a similar event during his time in Brattleboro, Vt.
“It’s just something I strongly believe in doing,” Wilson said. “So many people in the community do so many things for us, I just wanted to call timeout and give back. And it’s something that when brought to the players’ attention, they said, ‘Yes coach, absolutely.’”
Wilson currently works for the Greenfield Department of Public Works and one of his jobs involves custodial services at the Senior Center. He approached Greenfield Council on Aging director Hope Macary with the idea, and she said she was immediately on board.
“We said, ‘Great — seniors and free food. It’s a match made in heaven,’” Macary joked when Wilson first approached her with the idea. “Seniors come here from all over the place. We have people from all over Greenfield, people from Deerfield here. Some people come down from Brattleboro or up from Northampton. They come from all over the place.”
And of course no outing involving the GHS fooball team would be complete without a little talk about the rivalry with Turners Falls. Karen McCormack, who works at the Senior Center, made sure to wear blue and white Tuesday to ensure it wasn’t all about the Green Wave.
Wilson said that much of the food was purchased through donations made by Foster’s Supermarket, Stop & Shop, BJs Wholesale and Big Y.