AMHERST — Cenai Collins could have been working out and preparing himself for his freshman season for the American International football team.
Miles Foerster could have been deep in his playbook, building off a redshirt freshman year for the UConn football team.
Instead, both were on their knees pulling weeds out of the parking lot at the Amherst Survival Center.
Collins and Foerster were joined by Nate Mills and Landen Worgess. The Amherst Regional football program routinely has players, current and past, volunteer at the survival center. On Wednesday, this group answered the texts from head coach Chris Ehorn Jr., who was looking for four volunteers.
Ehorn started the community service program following his first season in 2016. Normally, a large group of players shows up, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the survival center limits the numbers of volunteers.
“Right now, with coronavirus, it makes it that much more important that we’re here helping right now,” Collins said. “I know there is probably a lot of people that usually volunteer here that can’t be here because of the coronavirus. They don’t want to get them exposed.”
Collins, a senior, was joined by sophomores Mills and Worgess. Foerster attended Amherst Regional and played football for the Hurricanes through his junior year. He left Amherst, reclassified and spent two years at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, before moving on to Storrs.
“Coach Ehorn reached out and I always like to help every time he asks,” Foerster said. “It’s good to help people. I don’t have much going on anyway so if I can put my time into helping people that’s what should be happening.”
The upperclassmen have served as role models for the younger players, who return the favor when it’s their turn.
“They have all been an influence on me,” Worgess said. “Seeing them is like family and I’m looking up to everything they do. I want to do that stuff. I see their accomplishments and I want to be as good as them and make the good decisions they’ve made.”
The program is coming off its most successful season on the field. The Hurricanes went undefeated during the regular season and won the Western Massachusetts Division 5 championship. The team reached the Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, where they fell to Swampscott.
Off the field, though, is where they also have left an impression.
“As football players, we have a great platform to help people out and I think we also have that responsibility. We represent the town of Amherst, and so opportunities that help the town of Amherst, we have to take advantage of those,” Ehorn said. “There’s a lot of youth that look up to these guys and when they see them and they know that they take time to go to the survival center and help out anyway possible, I think is important. And individually, coming here and helping and how you feel afterwards. You know you did something good. You know you sacrificed some of your time to make an impact in your community, and to me, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
The players have among other things loaded and unloaded the food delivering truck, and helped with housekeeping chores like washing walls and cleaning. Wednesday’s job was yardwork, pulling weeds from the curbs and edges of the parking lot.
They volunteer throughout the year and are ready for the call. Their help has especially been welcomed during the winter when college students return home and when local volunteers leave town for extended periods of time.
“They are incredible community members and citizen leaders in training,” Amherst Survival Center Program Director Carleen Basler said. “They really are setting an excellent example for their fellow students and contributing to our community in meaningful ways. Not only do they show up as a team, but occasionally individual members will show up and volunteer. They have excellent leadership through Coach Ehorn. I want to really bolster that because the team follows their greatest leaders. They have helped the survival center over the years, but particularly in this last year they have been at the ready.”
The volunteer work at the survival center has led to work elsewhere. Worgess and Mills have delivered food, while Foerster worked with some of his UConn teammates at a soup kitchen.
“Just finding a bunch of ways to give back to the community,” Mills said. “It’s really easy to do during these times.”
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter @mikemoranDHG.