By Rachel Clark
On December 20, 2016, the Oliver Ames High School Track and Field Coach James Sunderland made a special kind of delivery: $1,200 worth of track and field shoes and donations.
Coach Michael Atwood of New Bedford High School track and field, and a previous Oliver Ames teacher and track coach, contacted Coach Sunderland recently expressing concern for some of his runners that could not afford running shoes for the upcoming track season.
It didn’t take long for Sunderland to offer the support of his team. The next day, Sunderland assembled his athletes and asked if anyone had a spare pair of running shoes or track and field spikes that they could donate. Some students also offered cash donations to be used towards purchasing shoes for the New Bedford track and field team.
In only three days, the OA track team collected 12 pairs of shoes and over $100 in donations.
“It just goes to show the general level of caring and compassion our team shows for others. Even beyond that, track is different in that athletes on competing teams can still support each other” states Sunderland in response to the generosity of the team.