Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Spend Time At Abide Omaha
3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - On Wednesday, the Indiana men's basketball team took the opportunity to turn their attention to spending time with underprivileged youth in the Omaha area while in town for the Second and Third rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
The team paid a visit to Abide Omaha, a non-profit organization with multiple locations in Omaha.
Abide is an inner city, non-profit organization with a dream, that one day, Omaha, Nebraska would have no inner city. Our mission is to transform the inner city, one neighborhood at a time. Abide uses a holistic approach that focuses on developing healthy neighborhoods through four main areas: community building, family support, housing and partnerships.
Upon arrival at one of the locations, the team was greeted by Ron Dotzler and Twany Dotzler. Ron is the founder and Board President for the organization. The two met in college in Missouri, were married in 1980 and have 14 children. Ron and his family have worked with many people facing helpless, homeless and hopeless situations and their work has produced amazing inner city transformation. (click to learn more)
Once inside, Josh Dotzler, the chief executive officer of Abide Omaha and a former Creighton men's basketball player, gave a brief history of the organization as well as the mission they have.
From there, it was time to head downstairs and spend some time with youth that were in attendance. The goal of the time with the youth was to interact with them and find out what they are going to do in order to chase their dreams and make them a reality. Each then took their turn on stage, talking about the professions they hope to pursue - policeman, football player, baseball player, teacher, actress - and everything in between. The youth also had some questions for the Indiana players, making it a great way to get to know each other.
After spending well over an hour with the youth, the team said its goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. But there was certainly an impact made on the Indiana student-athletes, coaches and support staff that were in attendance. It was an experience that will make the trip a memorable one, no matter what.
