People’s Credit Union and University Rhode Island’s Women’s Athletics collaborated to create an ‘Inspiration & Activation Day' at the South County YMCA in Wakefield on November 7th. Student-athletes from URI’s women’s teams told stories to the children about how they got interested in their respective sports and all the opportunities that being an athlete opened up for them. As the Official Credit Union of URI’s Women’s Athletics, People’s Credit Union approached the YMCA about hosting the event and bringing in the varsity athletes. The “Inspiration” meet and greet was then followed by smaller group “Activation” events outside. The ‘Inspiration & Activation Day' was the first time that People’s Credit Union, URI, and the YMCA partnered together to provide community engagement opportunities for student-athletes.

“This first ‘Inspiration & Activation Day' with the URI’s women’s athletes was a great success and People’s Credit can’t thank the Y enough for all their help and hosting it,” stated Courtney Hunter, Head of Community Development for People’s Credit Union. “The URI student-athletes were terrific with the kids. Most of all, everyone had fun. We look forward to exploring more ways to collaborate and connect these inspirational women to the community,” Hunter added.

Samantha Gumprecht, People’s Credit Union’s Student-Athlete liaison for URI remarked, "As a student-athlete, it means so much to connect with our community and especially the next generation of future athletes. To know that these kids want to be able to do what we're doing when they grow up makes this opportunity even more special. The way we were able to inspire them and show them that they too can do it if they set their minds to it, was the important part of it all. I am so glad this event was such a hit, and I cannot wait for future events and building our relationship with the YMCA."