How Gonzaga Bulldog Rasir博尔顿 Captured a Community’s Heart

编者按:在他40多岁时， 高中辍学生 里克·克拉克(Rick Clark， ' 19) 给自己一个机会. 住在他的车里, 他上的是斯波坎社区大学, then enrolled at Gonzaga and began building a nonprofit to serve others experiencing homelessness, 在完成传播学学位的时候. 今天, Rick is not only the executive director of Giving Back Packs, 也是斯波坎隔离区的首席创意人, a grassroots effort to save struggling Spokane businesses during the pandemic. On the side – and honestly just for fun – Rick’s oversight of Spokane Memes has turned into a cash cow on 脸谱网.  

Rick would never have imagined making a living in these ways, or amassing the kinds of followers on social media that most marketing experts only dream of having. Part of his success is his unstoppable likeability among people of all ages and stages in life, 以及他对帮助他人的坚定热情.  

These are the realities that led Rick Clark into a close friendship with 拉西尔·博尔顿(1923年)，第45名，来自弗吉尼亚州彼得堡的冈萨加斗牛犬队.   

这是他们的故事，由里克讲述.  

I met Rasir博尔顿 in fall 2021 when I was invited to speak to a class of student-athletes at Gonzaga. 这门课的主题是运动员的个人品牌和商业, taught by Professor Peggy Sue Loroz and Ken Anderson in the 工商管理学院, 帮助学生理解NCAA关于名字的新规定, 形象与相似度(NIL), which allows them to earn money for themselves but to use their NIL influence to help the community in a variety of ways. 

To make a long story short, we raised over $9,000 that day in one 50-minute class. I went live on 脸谱网 in front of the students and let 40,000+ Spokane community members know that I was with these amazing athletes and we wanted to raise money to feed people in Spokane who are struggling with food insecurities. The students got to watch the donations coming in live, like a winning slot machine at the casino. My phone kept buzzing and chirping and the students kept cheering, hollering, jumping up and down. 毫无疑问，这是一个令人惊叹的时刻. 

当下课，烟雾散去时, one lone student in the back was making his way down the stairs toward me. 他用柔和而亲切的声音走近我:“嘿，里克, I would love to come out with you sometime when you help the community.”  

我惊喜地问了他的名字. 他说:“我叫拉西尔，但你可以叫我拉.” I could tell in his eyes and his voice that he really wanted to help me help others. It wasn’t a ploy or a gimmick and he had nobody to impress. 站在那里的是他和我，两个陌生人. 

澳门威尼斯人网站交换了电话号码，然后就上路了. I was very busy that week and was not able to reach out to him right away but that didn’t matter because Ra reached out to me. He texted me: “Can I help you deliver the meals we raised money for?就这样，澳门威尼斯人网站的友谊开始了.  

Rasir helped me pick up 100 meals from a downtown restaurant and deliver them to a women’s crisis center. I am in my 50s and move a bit slower than I used to and Rasir carried nearly all the boxes to the van from the restaurant and then carried them all in once we got to the center. He was not afraid to work and he did it all with the biggest smile I’d ever seen. We talked about helping others and the importance of it and Rasir told me that he wanted to someday go back home to Virginia and start a foundation to help people. I quickly learned that this servant's heart is in him — it is part of who he is.  

澳门威尼斯人网站继续一起工作, the community started getting wind of this young Zag and his giving nature. 人们爱上了拉西尔. He was stepping out of his comfort zone and even doing interviews with the news channels in the parking lots and wherever we worked. 我在这里, running around town helping others with one of the country's top college basketball players. 我不想让它结束.  

只要拉斯的时间允许, 在课间和篮球练习的时候, 他会问我接下来要做什么. We purchased 300 Christmas trees that winter to give away to families who couldn’t afford them. Yes, we set up Spokane’s first FREE Christmas Tree Stand in a downtown grocery store parking lot. Rasir was loading trees into cars and meeting people who adored him and loved what he did on the court. But honestly, I believe he gained more than those families did. He also inspired his teammates to join him in community service, and some of them have continued in related work for the greater good.  

I would need a lot more space to write and explain all the things that Rasir has done in his short time here in Spokane. The mayor gave him a framed award in front of a packed McCarthey Athletic Center to honor the work he does. He humbly accepted it and minutes later was dunking the basketball as if it were just another day. 

I have truly loved becoming friends with Rasir博尔顿 and I know that his life will take him many places and very far from Spokane. His heart is too big for one city; he will touch many lives going forward. But I also know that we are connected in a very special way that will always be right here wherever I go. 为此我真的很幸运.  

Big Fo ' Five谢谢你来斯波坎, 谢谢你选择冈萨加, 谢谢你关心别人. 你会被想念的.