FARMINGTON – Towering above the residents of Sandy River Nursing Care Center, some members of Mt. Blue’s football team and cheerleading squad spent time visiting several residents prior to Friday night’s home game.

The 39-member team divides into three groups who then take turns visiting a local nursing home prior to home games, said football coach Gary Parlin. The tradition was started around 2000, he said, by Marcus Corey, assistant coach Kapoula Thompson and some others and has continued since.

“It’s not a requirement and no one takes attendance but it’s good for everybody, a win-win situation,” he said. “The residents know about them and listen for their names during the games while the players realize some great conversations with people whose bodies have just gotten older.”

While a home game day is busy for the coach and team, he said, the players still take that extra hour to make the visit.

The team has also recently adopted a project in Industry that players hope to continue, Parlin said.

After practicing during the week, 32 students, including some freshman team members, three coaches and 10 family members participated in a Saturday cleanup day at the recently opened Daniel Kelly Stronghold cabin that is available for families of the Maine Children’s Cancer Program.

Dana and Leslie Kelly of Westbrook, parents of Daniel, who died of cancer in 2004 at the age of 12, started a project after his death to build a cabin on land they owned in Industry for families to get away to while a child is ill or to retreat to after the child’s death, explained Melissa Letarte, mother of Mt. Blue center Mike Letarte.

Using life insurance money from Daniel’s death and with the help of family, friends and organizations such as the Elks Club, the cabin has become a reality and was dedicated this summer, she said.

Letarte has been involved with work done on the project by the Maine Elks Association’s Children’s Cancer Program. She went to Parlin and involved the team to help clear debris around a stream on the property.

The boys picked up barbed wire, glass, old axles and worked on two walkways so that children can go down to the stream more safely, Letarte said.

“While it’s not just a way to give back,” said Parlin, “we also do it because these players are talented kids at what they do but sometimes they take things for granted. It’s a real eye opener for them.”

Players go beyond their football endeavors not for praise or honor, he said

“But sometimes I think the only time these kids get publicity is when they do something really well in sports or they get in trouble. It’s good to see these kids in this light,” he said.

Most of the team members have also participated in the Mt. Blue Cougar Football cookbook, a fundraiser initiated by Letarte for equipment and uniforms. Players, including some past members such as Fitzpatrick trophy winner Dustin Ireland and his father, Lee, submitted recipes to the book, she said.