GREENFIELD — Although preseason practice is still 15 days away, players on the Greenfield High School football team got together this week for a great reason.
About a dozen players from the Green Wave spent lunch-time serving hot dogs and hamburgers to residents at the Weldon Senior Center.
This marked the second straight year that members from the Wave’s football team hosted a luncheon at the Senior Center, located on High Street. The idea came from Wave assistant coach Glenn Wilson, who works for the Greenfield Department of Public Works. One of his jobs involves working at the Senior Center, and last year he pitched the idea to Wave head coach Mike Kuchieski.
“He pretty much does all the organizing,” Kuchieski said. “He brought the idea to me last year and I said, ‘Most definitely, let’s do it.’”
Wilson has had his hand in other community services during his past coaching stops. When he was at Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield, he held a luncheon for the first-responders in the Pioneer district. That idea was also something he had done in Brattleboro, Vt., and he also helped put together a luncheon for Greenfield first responders this past winter, hosted by the GHS girls’ basketball team.
After about 50 people took part in last year’s inaugural GHS football luncheon at the Senior Center, the team decided to do it again.
“It’s something we want to do for the community,” Kuchieski said. “It’s a chance for the players to give back to the community and represent Greenfield in a positive way.”
On Tuesday, coaches Al Dean, John Hickey and Wilson all manned the grill while Kuchieski and the players worked on serving the grub, which included hamburgers, cheeseburgers and hot dogs.
“We’ve been told it’s the most attended event at the Senior Center,” Kuchieski said. “Everybody was very happy. There were a lot of positive vibes.”
The team had a surprise attendee this time around — Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg, who told Kuchieski he had seen the event advertised in the newspaper.
“It was nice to have him there,” Kuchieski said. “He had a burger.”
Greenfield and the rest of the WMass high school football programs begin preseason practice on Aug. 18.