Submitted photo. YSU fifth-year guard Mady Aulbach stands outside the Youngstown Community School on Monday with one of the turkeys she and her teammates gave away to those in need.

YOUNGSTOWN — When Youngstown State’s Mady Aulbach went to the NIL Summit in June in Atlanta, she had the chance to meet fellow college athletes from across the country.

While there, the fifth-year guard met some athletes who had used NIL opportunities to give back to their respective communities, including UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin.

What she learned at the summit inspired Aulbach to do the same. So, she approached the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley back in September with her idea.

“I never thought of NIL being used to do something like that,” Aulbach said. “So I reached out to the United Way, who I’ve volunteered with in the past. And Bob from United Way is the best — he helped me get the ball rolling and I told him my idea to do Thanksgiving turkeys because my birthday was on Sunday and obviously Thanksgiving is Thursday. I wanted to do something in conjunction with those two things.”

On Monday at the Youngstown Community School, Aulbach’s idea finally came to fruition as she and several of her Penguins teammates helped donate 100 Thanksgiving meals to local families in need, including 100 turkeys, 100 bags of apples, 100 bags of potatoes, corn flakes, cranberry sauce and other Thanksgiving sides.

For Aulbach, it was a chance to give back to a city and area that has given her so much during her time playing for YSU.

“As far as NIL goes, making money is awesome, and NIL is a really cool space, but I’ve never been able to use it so far to give back,” Aulbach said. “I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I’m good — I have my Thanksgiving meal. I have a great, healthy family, all of that. I wanted to give back in some small way.

“I’ve volunteered with the United Way and Youngstown Community School before, and all the people there are awesome and the kids are so sweet. … Me and my teammate Emily (Saunders) were talking to one little boy, who turned away and asked ‘Do we really get to cook this turkey at home?’ You just don’t realize how blessed and lucky you are until you see someone so excited over something so simple. It made me feel really good and hopefully we get to do that again.”

In addition to the United Way, Aulbach collaborated with local businesses Boak & Sons and Valley Industrial Trucking to help provide the funds necessary to procure the food items to donate.

“Within 45 minutes, all the turkeys were gone,” Aulbach said. “I was fortunate enough to meet the men from Boak & Sons, who supplied money, and then Valley Industrial Trucking, who I actually met at our (YSU) golf outing in the fall. Then some winter hats were provided by Valley Industrial Trucking and some vouchers for grocery items, so we were able to make it really special.”

With the success of the event, Aulbach said she hopes to continue to do similar charitable giveaways during the rest of her final season with the Penguins.

“I think that says a lot about Mady,” YSU acting head coach John Nicolais said. “She’s had some NIL opportunities and for her to take advantage of that and give back to the community around Youngstown, that’s a testament to her and how she was raised. It certainly makes us proud as a program to see that.”

Aulbach added that she’s hoping to do a Christmas toy drive for the Youngstown Community School at some point in December.

“I hope other companies see it and would like to work with me around Christmas time,” Aulbach said. “I really love (the Youngstown Community School), and I’d like to keep giving back to them as much as I can. So if anyone wants to do anything with me for Christmas, I’d love to do that. I’ve talked to the United Way about that, too. That’s my next goal.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com