Tuesday morning a group of football players and cheerleaders from Brookhaven Academy volunteered their time at the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson. The group played video games and board games, painted pictures and watched movies with the children at the hospital.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I finally had a group I could take,” said Blake Purvis, head coach for Brookhaven Academy. “It was a good opportunity for our kids to get out and do something in the community.”

Blair E. Batson at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is the only children’s hospital in the state. They treat children from around the nation and from more than 80 counties with a variety of aliments from asthma or broken bones to cancer or birth defects.

“It was a very unique experience for them,” said Purvis. “It definitely opened their eyes to some things.”

Purvis said the community supports his team on Friday nights, so he wanted to have the team do something to support the community. He used this visit as a way to teach the students about being selfless and putting someone else’s needs before their own.

“I’m glad that I’m part of a school that would do that,” said Grayson Devito, wide receiver/corner back for BA. He said that these kids are going through something harder than anything they could ever imagine.

Devito has been to the hospital many times before with his 4-year-old sister, Magnolia Jones. Jones was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in June 2014 and is currently receiving treatment at Batson. She is in remission but will continue with chemo for the next two and a half years.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time she is a normal little kid, but one day a week she has to go to the hospital,” said Devito. He said that it is the little things that count at the hospital like sitting down and talking with the children, making them forget about where they are for a moment and reminding them that they can still have fun.

Purvis said he plans on his team returning to the hospital every year. “It will be a good start to practice.”

To learn about the Blair E. Batson Hospital or about donating visit www.umc.edu/childrenshospital/