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EUGENE, Ore. - A central pillar of the Bushnell Athletics experience is to be a Beacon for Christ in the community and living out a call to serve others whenever the opportunity arises. The opportunities have been bountiful for the Beacons in the early stages of the 2026-2027 school year. 

On Thursday, September 17, one of Bushnell University's most important annual community service traditions continued with the 2026 Embrace the Community Day.

On this particular day, all Bushnell classes are canceled in the afternoon, giving every student, faculty, and staff member the opportunity to participate. Members of the Bushnell community set out to impact the larger Eugene/Springfield community, serving with over 30 different non-profit organizations. This signature event has been happing each fall at Bushnell for over 15 years and was born out of the Bushnell athletic department as the brainchild of a former Beacon women's soccer player. 

ETC Day provides a signature moment for Bushnell Athletes to live out the mission of being holistic student-athletes. Associate Athletic Director Sarah Freeman said, "watching our student-athletes live out our Tri-Athlete model with humility, heart and purpose is such powerful experience. I'm so proud of our entire community. This is our opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and moments like these remind us that character isn't just a title, it's a calling, and we are called to be Beacons!"

Every Beacon athletic team participated in the event at one or more of the various non-profit organizations, putting in a total of over 700 hours of community service. The variety of opportunities is one of the things that make Bushnell's Embrace the Community program so meaningful, and for many teams, strong bonds are built and teams make plans to return to their site for more work in the future. "Through the lens of wisdom, faith, and service, our goal is to connect our students with service opportunities and organizations that can turn into long standing relationships," said Freeman. "While ETC day is just one day we hope it inspires a spirit of service and community engagement that will be deeply rooted in our student-athletes and how we as Beacons live our lives."
 
This year's slate of team projects and community partnerships included:  
 
WOMEN'S GOLF: Catholic Community Services
The women's golf team worked at the Springfield offices for Catholic Community Services and helped out with clothes donation sorting, organizing, and gardening. 

MEN'S GOLF: St. Vincent de Paul
The men's golf team served at the St. Vincent de Paul distribution center, sorting donations that head to their thrift stores. 
 
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Alton Baker Park
The cross country teams had the opportunity to participate in a major renovation project in Alton Baker Park, helping to clear out overgrown ivy along the Canoe Canal. 
 
WOMEN'S SOCCER: Greenhill Humane Society
The Esports team was at the Greenhill Humane Society, helping to manage and care for a grass field on their property, pulling weeds, mulching, and cleaning out dog crates. 

MEN'S BASKETBALL:  Luper Pioneer Cemetery
In one of the longest standing traditions of ETC Day, the men's basketball team once again returned to the Luper Pioneer Cemetery to help with weeding and other beautification efforts. The Luper Pioneer cemetery is the final resting place for James Bushnell and his family.
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: ARC of Lane County
The women's basketball team was able to return for the second year to ARC of Lane County, doing some weeding and other yard work projects, vehicle cleaning, and repainting driveways. 

Graduate transfer Jersey McGehee said, "It was really rewarding to help this organization because we heard stories from workers who have dedicated many years to helping individuals with disabilities have equal opportunity. We were able to serve them and even though it was only for a few hours, we were able to take a lot off of the workers plates and allow them to focus on those who needed it."

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Alton Baker Park
Beach Volleyball once again worked on some cleanup and maintenance with Nearby Nature at Alton Baker Park. The team scattered throughout the park and picked up trash. 
 
Senior Jazmyn Wilcox said, "We were able to help clean up at a park that we often hang out at. It was a good team bonding and it was fun to make a difference together."
 
TRACK & FIELD – Springfield Youth Farm
The name of the game was harvesting for the Bushnell Track & Field teams at the Springfield Youth Farm. A regular site for the team but at a new location this year, the Beacons did some general gardening work, including harvesting strawberries. 

Senior Maxwell Al-Rubaie said, "I enjoyed working at the farm. it was a nice change of pace from the everyday and also great to know that what we were doing in that moment is actually helping people. As someone who wants to see results immediately, it is nice to see that what we are doing is making a tangible difference in someone's life."
 
SOFTBALL – Hendricks Park
The Softball team once again helped with trail clean up and beautification at Hendricks Park in Eugene. It was their third straight year participating in this project. 
 
MEN'S SOCCER –CASA/Willamette Christian Center
Bushnell's large men's soccer team was split among two locations on Thursday with similar tasks. Spending time at both the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) headquarters as well as the campus of Willamette Christian Center, the teams did grounds keeping and landscaping work including mulching and other projects.  

Senior Aaron Villa, who served at CASA, said, "I love having the opportunity to give back to my community in a way that felt meaningful. We were able to serve an organization made up of volunteers who sacrifice their time and effort into protecting vulnerable youth in Lane County which feels great."

VOLLEYBALL - HIV Alliance
The Volleyball team was on hand to assist the HIV Alliance with assembling kits that they distribute to the community. "We had a good time helping at HIV Alliance because it was a simple way for our team to give back to the community," said Peyton Arland. "being able to serve together as a team was great and knowing that the kits we were putting together would directly support people in Eugene was rewarding."

WRESTLING: Everyone Village
Everyone Village is a unique Eugene organization that provides temporary housing to people experiencing homelessness. This year coach Dylan Costello and Bushnell's two early-signee wrestlers, Paige Chafin and Maverick Taylor joined other Bushnell students moving lumber and boulders and spreading bark. The team completed their tasks so quickly that they were asked to start in on another project for the organization in painting a building. 

Chafin said, "It felt very rewarding to help this organization because all of the members were very grateful for our help. One woman was in tears because she woke up thinking she had to move heavy bricks by herself but were were able to ease that burden. Everyone kept thanking us for the work we did and it was nice knowing we made a difference."

BASEBALL: Relief Nursery
The baseball team, 55 members strong, was split into two groups on Thursday. The majority of the team headed to Washburne Park for landscaping work, while a handful helped out at the Relief Nursery with a pressuring washing project at the facility. 

ESPORTS: ShelterCare
The Esports team headed to ShelterCare where they helped out with vehicle cleaning.

ATHLETICS FALL SERVICE DAY

ETC Day was just the latest in a string of opportunities the Beacons have already had this year to serve their community. In late August both new and returning Beacons were in action as they opened up the season with purpose and the Athletics Fall Service Day, which lands on the final Sunday night before classes begin. 

For new student athletes, this meant participating in "Get Your Serve On" as part of Orientation Weekend. This year, all new students came together to serve at one of three locations. This included two school beautification projects at South Eugene High School and Dos Rios Elementary, whose principal is former Bushnell softball player Kristin Noor. Another group was able to help out with Project Hope, helping get shoe donations sorted ahead of the large Project Hope back-to-school event the following weekend. 

For returners, the same day is used for another annual tradition with the Canned Food Drive. It was another incredibly successful "reverse shopping" canned food drive as teams set out across multiple neighborhoods in Eugene with shopping carts in hand, going door-to-door to collect canned food, dry goods, toilet paper, and paper towels. The teams brought in over 1300 pounds of food for FOOD for Lane County in addition to a large amount also given to the Bushnell Food Pantry. 

Athletic Director Corey Anderson said, "Our canned food drive is a great way for us to start out the academic year with our returning student-athletes! To help serve our community is always an awesome exercise of giving and service for our student-athletes to participate in. It is always rewarding to deliver such a huge amount of food to FOOD for Lane County and they are always shocked with the amount that we collect in just a few hours time, especially during a slower time of year for their collections. We also get to share the food on campus through the Bushnell Food Pantry, which has been a huge blessing to members of our community who are in need."