Each week, US Lacrosse is proud to highlight our Impact Athletes — boys’ and girls’ high school lacrosse players who are supporting their communities with special efforts.

We all recognize that these are unusual and unprecedented times, but great challenges also offer great opportunities, and US Lacrosse continues to receive and share some of these stories.

US Lacrosse has created an easy-to-use online submission form so you can share your stories and photos with us. US Lacrosse reviews all submissions and selects exemplary high school athletes to recognize. These are their stories.

Shaun Gillispie, Parkton, Md.

Gillispie, a lacrosse player at Hereford High School, is a volunteer coach for a youth team and helps to grow the sport with those getting accustomed it. That is not the only way he gives back to his community.

He volunteers at First Fruits Farm, a non-profit organization that grows fresh produce to be donated to food banks, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and anyone else in need. Because of quarantine and stay-at-home orders, First Fruits Farm had to utilize a smaller crew, so Gillispie stepped up to do even more.

He helped prepare fields and plant thousands of tomatoes, peppers and cabbage plants — not to mention his assistance in preparing and planting 30,000 pounds of potatoes. The 2020 harvest yielded over 2 million pounds of food, all of which was donated to those in need in the Mid-Atlantic region.

You can follow First Fruits Farm on Instagram and Facebook.

Natalie Palmeri, Garden City, N.Y.

Another standout athlete helping in food service during this difficult time, Palmeri is a Kent State University lacrosse commit who started a Mobile Food Drive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She and her Garden City High School classmates adopted a plan and sent emails to the school and community, prompting people to sign up for a day to make a donation. Donations were left outside of homes at 2 p.m., then Palmeri and her classmates made the rounds to pick them up.

All food was brought to Palmeri, who then organized the donations and delivered to various food banks in the area. In total, she delivered nearly 300 bags of food, 35 cases of granola bars, cereal, cookies and more.