Lunch At Capitol Austin Tx

Unique Experiences Afforded By Four-Game Trip to Ireland

While most Emory teams held pre-season practices in the oppressive Georgia heat, the men’s basketball team embarked on a nine-day overseas trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland. From Aug. 11 to Aug. 19, the Eagles toured the country while playing four games against Irish club teams.

“For the most part, our basketball guys can’t take a semester abroad because we have season in both semesters. A trip like this makes up for that. We didn’t get to study abroad, [and] the trip was nine days, but it was great to be together,” Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said.

From authentic Irish breakfasts in downtown Dublin to sightseeing along the Irish coast, the team soaked in all the Emerald Isle had to offer. Highlights include visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and checking out the historical Book of Kells at Trinity College. The team members climbed a mountain, swam in the ice-cold ocean and gawked at the Cliffs of Moher.

“It was a great opportunity for the team to go overseas and experience the culture,” said senior sharpshooter Alex Gulotta, who plays guard for the team.
Senior guard Austin Claunch in particular enjoyed the capital.

“There were some really cool tourist sites. I liked being with the team and walking around Dublin, being around the people of Ireland [and] interacting with them.”

The team also attended a Gaelic sporting event: hurling. A day the team had off coincided with the national hurling semi-finals, and the team was in attendance as Dublin lost to Tipperary.

“It was an all island semi-final hurling match with 42,000 people there. [We were] in standing room only, right in the mix. I don’t know if our guys knew the rules until we got there, but that was a really neat cultural experience,” Zimmerman said.

As the team crisscrossed the island from Dublin to Belfast and back south to Killearney, they were able to see how the country evolved.

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas

That fact was unacceptable to Hank Perret, president and CEO of Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Through its Central Texas Food Rescue Program, the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas rescues perishable, nutritious foods from local and national grocery store chains before it ends up in the trash.

Calling the institution “not your grandparents’ food bank,” Perret and his staff of 70 full-time employees and 16,000 volunteers are expanding services to advocate for better federal programs, promoting nutrition education and expanding programs that connect the food bank to different food pantries throughout its 21-county service region.

“We are doing a myriad of things you wouldn’t think a food bank might do because it is a different day. If we could work ourselves out of the job, that would be the best thing we can do,” Perret said. “Hunger is unacceptable. It is just unacceptable.”

In any given week, 48,000 Central Texans receive food from the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. In just one month, the 60,000-square-foot warehouse goes through an entire stock of inventory that holds up to 2 million pounds of food, but that amount is not enough to keep hungry Texans fed.

With 16,000 volunteers contributing nearly 80,000 hours of service and more than 25 millions of pounds of food annually, the food bank is still in need of donations—food and funds—to help hungry Texans.

The food bank announced July 8 that it will be moving the headquarters from South Austin to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport area. The new building will be double the current size of the center with 125,000 square feet. Turner said it will break ground in spring 2012.

With the summertime heat scorching Central Texas, the summer months are a difficult time for area residents living on the poverty line as the increasing cost of utilities cuts into grocery budgets and available money.

“Hunger doesn’t take a vacation,” said John Turner, the senior director of marketing and branding at the food bank. “We get lots of help in the fall around Thanksgiving and the holidays, but we have just as many hungry people on June the 24 as we do on Nov. 24.

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