TXST Football Team Making a Difference in San Marcos

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Eighty members of the Texas State football team joined the Habitat Conservation Plan and ServeSanMarcos.org to place 500 native plants along the bank of the San Marcos River  in Upper Sewell Park on Friday afternoon.   The project is designed to repair a key riverbank that was damaged by flood waters during the 2015 Memorial Day weekend and fall semester, and to mitigate future storm damage.

“They reached out for a large-scale volunteer effort and the riverbank restoration project turned out to be a perfect fit,” Rev. Todd Salmi of ServeSanMarcos.org said. ““Adding the plants helps repair the damage caused from previous floods and also lessens the impact of future floods by stabilizing the river bank, slowing water trying to get into the river and helping keep debris out of the river that obstructs water flow downstream. It helps get the water downstream instead of pooling and effecting our communities.”

”The result is a more natural riverbank that can reduce storm impact by better moving water safely through the watershed,” added Melani Howard, manager of the Habitat Conservation Plan.

The football team reached out to volunteer and help flood-stricken areas in San Marcos as part of the team’s Life Skills program. Other Bobcat teams have served the San Marcos community by helping with cancer awareness and healthy heart campaigns, food and clothing drives and Habitat for Humanity.

“We work with a lot of volunteer groups, but the football team brought a spirit of teamwork and was ready to get out and make a difference,” Salmi said. “A lot of times, volunteers will take a little bit of time to figure out what they are doing. But the team started grabbing shovels and were anxious to get started before we could finish giving them the full instructions. It was nice to see because they not only were making a difference, they were having a good time. That helped raise the fun level for everyone and made this a nice community activity.”