Proud to help the Patriots

The cheerleaders at Jay County High School are proud to be Patriots.
The same can be said of nine other schools in Indiana that share the All-American mascot.
But at John Marshall in Indianapolis, the girls charged with sparking that school spirit started the year without some of the key tools of the trade.
There were enough uniforms for the 16 Marshall cheerleaders, but they don’t match. There are four different styles.
And items like warm-ups, body suits and briefs weren’t in the budget.
Realizing her school has the same nickname as its new football rival — Jay County — Marshall cheer coach Tiffany Smith reached out.
Her email went to JCHS athletics director Steve Boozier, who passed the request on to cheer coach Abby Champ.
“I was like, ‘Yeah we’ve got stuff that says Patriots,’” said Champ.
So she talked to her cheerleaders about the possibility of helping out, tracked down what was available and shipped it.
“We take a lot of things for granted,” said JCHS junior cheerleader Samantha Link. “All of us can afford to buy the shoes and buy the poms and the briefs and the body suits. And there’s people who … can’t afford to buy all those things.
“For us to be able to give them those things and help them out, it’s a great feeling.”
The gift, sent about three weeks ago to Marshall, included just about anything the Jay County squad had and was no longer using that has the word “Patriots.” It was highlighted by a full set of uniforms to go along with body suits, warm-ups, signs and poms.
Champ estimated the total value of the uniforms and accessories, all of which had been tucked away in storage totes unused for years, to be between $3,000 and $5,000.
“Anything that they could have used during games prior to us playing them, we sent,” said Champ.
Marshall has been able to put all that it has received into action.
“We are using EVERYTHING you have given us and it all looks great on my girls!” Smith said in an email to Champ.
Jay County still has more to give.
The remaining items, including four different uniforms dating from as recent as the early 2000s to decades earlier, another set of body suits that was found since the original shipment went out, bows and ribbons, will travel with the squad to Indianapolis. The pair of Patriot teams will play at 7 p.m. Friday at Arlington.
There were plans for the squads to meet for dinner before the game, but with Marshall on its fall break this week that idea fell through. Now they’re trying to work out a time to get together during basketball season.
It’s an opportunity the Jay County cheerleaders are looking forward to.
“I feel like we could become friends with them,” said junior Leearah Eldridge.
“Our squad is basically a family and I’m assuming theirs is like a family too,” added Link. “And when you bring two families together, it’s fun.”